Ronde van Limburg 2025

April 16, 2025 Rain returned to Northern Europe after weeks of dry weather for the Ronde van Limburg. With just 1,300M of elevation, plenty of sprinters were on the start line for the 177KM race to Tongeren. Halfway through the route, the riders start three local laps of 38.5KM, with the climbs of Kolmontberg and Zammelenberg, as well as two cobbled sectors of Manshoven and Op de Kriezel on each lap. Five riders got up the road and into the breakaway including Filippo Ridolfo of Novo Nordisk, Adam Ťoupalík of Unibet Tietema Rockets, Jonathan Vervenne of the Soudal Quickstep Dev Team, Stian Rosenlund of AIRTOX-Carl Ras, and Bram Dissel of BEAT Cycling. Q36.5, Alpecin-Deceuninck, and Intermarché-Wanty were controlling the pace in the bunch and had the break at 2 minutes 30 seconds as they went through the finish line in Tongeren for two laps and 77KM to go. The first action from the peloton came from Jakob Söderqvist of Lidl-Trek on the Zammelenberg. He was joined by Victor Hannes of Intermarché-Wanty, Timo Kielich of Alpecin-Deceuninck, and Andreas Stokbro of Unibet Tietema Rockets leaving Q36.5 and Cofidis being the main teams without representation. They managed to bring the group back just as positioning started for the 1300M Manshoven cobbled sector. The break hit the cobbles with just a 1 minute lead but behind, Tibor Del Grosso and Kielich of Alpecin-Deceuninck split the peloton and a group of around 15 got a gap. This time it was Intermarché-Wanty that missed the move but they ran out of men to pull and Biniam Girmay had to make a huge effort, closing the 10 second gap by himself, dragging the majority of the peloton with him. Q36.5 got control of the bunch and with 43KM to go, the they were 30 seconds behind the break on their way back to the finish line to start the final lap. Jonas Rickaert and Henri Uhlig attacked for Alpecin-Deceuninck once again on the Kolmontberg but they could not bridge to break and had to settle back into the peloton. Calm was restored to the bunch until the approach to Manshoven with 17KM to go. Three riders from the break were still hanging on including Ťoupalík, Vervenne, and Rosenlund but they were caught and passed by Del Grosso who attacked on the Manshoven sector. The bunch regrouped but the chase was taking a long time to get organized. A group of four consisting of Gianni Marchand of Tarteletto-Isorex, Guillermo Thomas Silva of Caja-Rural Seguros RGA, Rickaert, and Girmay got across to Del Grosso after the Op de Kriezel cobbles and had 10 seconds on the Cofidis led peloton with 11KM to race. There were too many resources in the bunch though and the attackers were caught with 6KM to go. Lead outs started to organize with 4KM to go but there were not many teammates left in front of the sprinters. Lotto and Lidl-Trek controlled the front of the bunch as shoulders and elbows were flying from riders behind to try and keep their position. The last kilometer was chaotic. Some riders took a right turn wide and hopped on to the sidewalk but just ahead were barriers that had been set up for the finish. A few riders were forced off the course from being on the wrong side and a handful came down into the barriers. The Lotto train led into 250M with Jasper de Buyst taking the final pull but Milan Fretin came off the wheel and took the win for Cofidis. After all of their aggression, Alpecin-Deceuninck took second with Simon Dehairs, just in front of Milan Menten of Lotto in third.