Eneco Tour of Benelux

The **Eneco Tour of Benelux** is a UCI ProTour bicycle stage race. Its name refers to its main sponsor, the energy company Eneco Energie. The first Eneco Tour of Benelux took place from August 3 to August 10 2005

## History

The Tour of the Netherlands began on 6 May 1948, but only became an annual event in 1975. From about 2000 it was known as the Eneco tour. The start of the UCI's ProTour in 2005 saw the tour reorganised.

## Organization

The then UCI president Hein Verbruggen wanted to keep the Tour of the Netherlands for "marketing reasons". (Part of the UCI's job is to make cycling more popular).    The Dutch Tour organisation got a better sponsor (ENECO Energie). But because the race was not difficult enough for the new ProTourthe race organisers asked the organisers of the Tour of Belgium and the Tour de Luxembourg. The idea was a Tour of the Benelux that would replace the three.  The Tours of Belgium and Luxembourg will carry on. The organisers of the Tour of Luxembourg did not want to join the new big race, so the Eneco tour only covers Belgium and the Netherlands.

### General classification

The overall winner of the race by time wears a _red jersey_ (Dutch: _Rode trui_ or French: _Maillot rouge_).
|Year|Name|Country|
| --- | --- | --- |
|2007|Iván Gutiérrez||
|2006|Stefan Schumacher||
|2005|Bobby Julich||

### Points classification

In 2005, the overall winner of the race by points (Dutch: _Puntenklassement_) wears a _blue jersey_ (Dutch: _Blauwe trui_ or French: _Maillot bleu_). This was changed to a white jersey however in 2006.

|Year|Cyclist|Country|
| --- | --- | --- |
|2007|Mark Cavendish||
|2006|Simone Cadamuro||
|2005|Allan Davis||

### Mountains classification

No jersey is awarded for leading this classification.
|Year|Name|Country|
| --- | --- | --- |
|2007|no jersey awarded||
|2006|no jersey awarded||
|2005|Christian Vandevelde||

### Young rider classification

Before 2007, the best young (under 25) rider of the race got to wear a _yellow jersey_. (Dutch: _Gele trui_ or French: _Maillot jaune_).

|Year|Name|Country|
| --- | --- | --- |
|2007|no jersey awarded||
|2006|Stefan Schumacher||
|2005|Thomas Dekker||

### Team classification

|Year|Name|Country|
| --- | --- | --- |
|2007|||
|2006|Liquigas||
|2005|Liberty Seguros-Würth Team||

## Most Stage Wins

|||Cyclist|# Stages|Year|Stage|in|Stage|in|Stage|in||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
||Tom Boonen|3|2006|1 (Hoogeveen|)|3 (Westmalle|)|5 (Balen|)|||
||Max van Heeswijk|2|2005|1 (Mierlo|)|5 (Hasselt|)|||||
||Alessandro Ballan|1|2005|4 (Verviers|)|||||||
||Simone Cadamuro|1|2005|2 (Sittard|)|||||||
||Mark Cavendish|1|2007|2 (Knokke-Heist|)|||||||
||Allan Davis|1|2005|3 (Landgraaf|)|||||||
||Michiel Elijzen|1|2007|Prologue (Hasselt|)|||||||
||Philippe Gilbert|1|2006|7 (Ans|)|||||||
||George Hincapie|1|2006|4 (Landgraaf|) (ITT)|||||||
||Bobby Julich|1|2005|7 (Etten-Leur|) (ITT)|||||||
||David Kopp|1|2006|(Sint-Truiden|)|||||||
||Pablo Lastras|1|2007|6 (Landgraaf|)|||||||
||Robbie McEwen|1|2007|3 (Putte|)|||||||
||Nick Nuyens|1|2007|1 (Eupen|)|||||||
||Luciano Pagliarini|1|2007|5 (Nieuwegein|)|||||||
||Manuel Quinziato|1|2006|2 (Sittard-Geleen|)|||||||
||Sébastien Rosseler|1|2007|7 (Geleen|) (ITT)|||||||
||Stefan Schumacher|1|2006|Prologue (Den Helder|)|||||||
||Stefan van Dijk|1|2005|6 (Hoogstraten|)|||||||
||Rik Verbrugghe|1|2005|Prologue (Mechelen|)|||||||
||Wouter Weylandt|1|2007|4 (Terneuzen|)|||||||

## References

- Graat, John (August 3 2005). _'Fantastische' Pro Tour zegen voor profronde_. Trouw (Dutch newspaper), p. 13.

## Other websites

- Official homepage

## Infobox (cycling race)

- **name**: Eneco Tour of Benelux
- **date**: August
- **region**: Benelux
- **english**: Eneco Tour of Benelux
- **discipline**: Road
- **competition**: UCI ProTour
- **type**: Stage-race
- **first**: 2005
- **number**: 3 (as of 2007)
- **firstwinner**: Bobby Julich
- **mostrecent**: Iván Gutiérrez