The Amysoft Wielermeerdaagse Noordenveld Westerkwartier has been considerably shortened this year. The illustrious northern cycling event is a two-day event this year. Rodenaar Adne Koster puts his hand in his own bosom on behalf of the riders. “I think it mainly depends on us riders. It is a mortal sin.”
The cycling world is a special biotope at times. You can write a handbook full of crazy customs and other oddities. Chapter 3, paragraph 7.12 of that handbook could be about ‘Cycling races and their names’. Sometimes they change just like that, sometimes they don’t change while that would make sense. For example, there is the Four Days of Dunkirk, a stage race that has always taken five or six days in recent years. The Three Days of De Panne has now changed its name, but for a few years the Three Days was a one-day race.
A close call
With ‘Wielermeerdaagse Noordenveld-Westerkwartier’ you are always in the right place. And this year that is still the case, but it is close. Because this edition is only two days away. Friday evening in Peize (Noordenveld) and Saturday evening the traditional conclusion in De Wilp (Westerkwartier). So the name Wielermeerdaagse Noordenveld-Westerkwartier is not a lie, but fun is different. The event, which once consisted of six days of cycling, has been trimmed even further in 2023. Compared to last year, Leek and Nieuw Roden are no longer there. Nieuw Roden had to contend with a shortage of volunteers and in Leek they chose a different date (September 1), so that the race can no longer be part of the Wielermeerdaagse.
The two gaps could not be filled, but the organization will not give up for future editions. The goal is to organize another six-day race, if necessary in villages that are not in Noordenveld or Westerkwartier – in that case it is important to maintain the name Wielermeerdaagse Noordenveld Westerkwartier for cult reasons. Riders and riders are needed for this, but the enthusiasm is waning there too. Peize’s own great cycling talent Karst Hayma (recently third at the NK juniors and in August in the Dutch team at the World Cup) can give the starting shot, Friday afternoon at six o’clock. His ‘good luck, ladies!’ through the microphone of the speaker is heard by 23 pairs of ears, a small platoon.
Deadly sin
And it doesn’t stop with the men either. While Manon de Boer from Leeuwarden gives cycling lessons in the women’s race and ‘pacmanning’ first doubles the peloton and then also puts the chasing group on a lap on the 1.1 kilometer course through the center of Peize, the first men arrive. Among them the man from a village further, Adne Koster from Rode. A great shame, he calls the clipped-winged Wielermeerdaagse. “I think it mainly lies with the riders. If I can I ride all criteria here in the North myself, but I think there are also plenty of guys who don’t. Such a beautiful event does not deserve this. If there are just a hundred men at the start, other villages will also be enthusiastic to organize a race. In the time I raced it was always four or five days, but now that there are only two I see it more as two separate criteria.”
Complete quartet
Meanwhile, Manon de Boer wins the women’s race, ahead of Paulien Koster from Meppel and Iris Schultinga from Zuidlaren. Skater Melissa Wijfje takes fourth place. De Boer hopes to set a good example for her friend Rick Ottema with the victory. The bred Muntendammer won the past three editions of the Wielermeerdaagse and is eager to complete the quartet. He races aggressively from the start and can always be found at the front of the peloton in the early stages of the race.
But when the decisive blow falls, he is not there. An exotic leading group with the Assense Australian Aden Paterson, the Assense Japanese Hideyuki Takagi, the Frisian Klaas Poortinga and Rob ter Burg from Leusden in Utrecht ride away and may break up. In the sprint, the Frisian is the strongest, ahead of Paterson. Rick Ottema is seventh and still has quite a bit of work to secure his fourth Cycling Days on Saturday evening in the final race in De Wilp.