Gerben Thijssen sprinted to victory in the 75th edition of the Tour of Limburg. The local rider beat Australian Ewan, who had to change bikes several times in the last 5km, and the Polish rider Aniolkowski on the Eeuwfeestwal in Tongeren.
1.Henri Moerenhout2.Louis Budts3.Edmond Van Heynighem
Record holders
Only six riders have been able to win the Ronde van Limburg two times in their careers. Of these six, only one rider managed to win the race two years in a row: Joseph Abelshausen.
Ernest Sterckx was the first rider to succeed in winning the Ronde van Limburg twice. His first victory came in 1944. In that year, Sterckx defeated Sylvain Grysolle. After that, the rider from Heultj had to wait eleven more years for another victory. In 1955 Sterckx was the fastest in the sprint in a group of seven.
In 1957, Willy Vannitsen won the Ronde van Limburg. That year, he beat Emile Severeyns, his teammate at Peugeot - BP - Dunlop, in a sprint with four riders. Three years later, Vannitsen joined the record holders after another win in the sprint with a small group.
Joseph Abelshausen is the only one of the Ronde van Limburg record holders to have won the race two years in a row. Both times, he finished solo. He just managed to stay in front of the peloton in 1972. A year later, the rider from IJsboerke – Bertin triumphed with a lead of one minute over his first pursuer.
In 1975, it was Guido Van Sweevelt and Cees Priem who rode together to the finishing line with a hunting peloton just behind them. Van Sweevelt showed himself to be the strongest in the sprint between the two of them. Four years later he again beat a Dutchman. This time, Gerrie Kneteman came second in a sprint with six.
Man of the region, Eric Vanderaerden, also managed to finish on top of the podium twice in the Ronde van Limburg. His first win came in 1985, when he won the sprint from a thinned out peloton. He was also the best rider three years later. The rider from Panasonic - Isostar made it solo that year.
In 2014, Mathieu van der Poel was just nineteen years old when he won the Ronde van Limburg for the first time. In that year, the Dutchman showed himself to be the strongest in the sprint of a thinned out peloton. Four years later, Van der Poel proved once again that he had a solid sprint finish. In 2018, he defeated Nacer Bouhanni and Tim Merlier who took the two lower podium places.