The 2018 Healthy Ageing Tour was a women's cycle stage race that was held in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

from 4 to 8 April 2018. The 2018 edition of the race was the eighth running of the Healthy Ageing Tour, being held with a

UCI UCI most commonly refers to: * University of California, Irvine, a public university in Irvine, California, United States * Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body for the sport of cycling UCI may also refer to: * Uganda Cancer In ...

rating of 2.1. The race was marked by the performance of the entire team; aside from winning the

team time trial A team time trial (TTT) is a road bicycle race in which teams of cyclists race against the clock (see individual time trial for a more detailed description of ITT events). The winning team in a TTT is determined by the comparing the times of ...

stage, their riders

Anna van der Breggen Anna van der Breggen (born 18 April 1990) is a Dutch professional Road bicycle racing, road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2009 and 2021 for Team Flexpoint, , and . She won the gold medal in the Cycling at the 2016 Summer Olymp ...

Amy Pieters Amy Pieters (born 1 June 1991) is a Dutch professional road and track cyclist, who is contracted to ride for UCI Women's WorldTeam . She was a member of the Dutch team that finished sixth at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the team pursuit (togethe ...

and

Chantal Blaak Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (née Blaak; born 22 October 1989) is a Dutch road racing cyclist, who last rode for UCI Women's WorldTeam . In 2017 she became world road race champion in Bergen, Norway. Van den Broek-Blaak also won several classi ...

won three others. In the overall classification, Pieters won by 22 seconds ahead of Blaak, while

Christine Majerus Christine Majerus (born 25 February 1987) is a Luxembourgish former professional road bicycle racing, road and cyclo-cross cyclist, who rode for UCI Women's Team, UCI Women's WorldTeam and its predecessors from 2014 until her retirement in 2024 ...

completed the podium – just ahead of van der Breggen, in a 1–2–3–4 – a further 20 seconds in arrears. The other major jerseys were won by

Kirsten Wild Kirsten Carlijn Wild (born 15 October 1982) is a Dutch former professional racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2004 and 2021, for eight professional teams. During her track cycling career, Wild rode at the Summer Olympic Games in 2012 ...

(points for ),

Natalie van Gogh Natalie van Gogh (born 14 September 1974) is a Dutch former professional racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2012 and 2021 for Team Ibis Cycles, , and . Life and career Van Gogh was assigned male at birth and later underwent sex ...

(sprints for ) and Lisa Klein (young rider for ).

Teams

A total of 20 teams competed in the race, including 9

UCI Women's Team A UCI Women's Team is a women's road bicycle team sanctioned by the International Cycling Union ( UCI). These teams compete in the major women's bicycle races including the UCI Women's World Tour. The country designation of each team is determine ...

Route

Stages

Stage 1

;4 April 2018 —

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, ) is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the m ...

to Heerenveen, ,

individual time trial An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa a cronometro'' "stopwatch stage"). There are also trac ...

(ITT)

Stage 2

;5 April 2018 —

Westerkwartier The Westerkwartier (; ; ; ) is a historical region in the Dutch province of Groningen, at the border with the provinces of Drenthe and Friesland. In the past the area was part of the historical region of Frisia. The West Frisian language ...

Grootegast Grootegast (; ; ) is a village and former municipality in the northeastern Netherlands. It is the sister city of Kingston, Tasmania. The municipality was merged into the municipality of Westerkwartier on 1 January 2019. Geography The former ...

Stage 3a

;6 April 2018 — Oldambt to

Winschoten Winschoten (; ) is a city with a population of 18,518 in the municipality of Oldambt (municipality), Oldambt in the northeast of the Netherlands. It is the largest city in the region of Oldambt (region), Oldambt in the province of Groningen (prov ...

Stage 3b

;6 April 2018 —

Stadskanaal Stadskanaal () is a town and municipality with a population of 32,715 in the province of Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. It was named after the canal Stadskanaal. From 1800 until 1900 this area was ideal for its peat mining, and so ...

to Stadskanaal, ,

(TTT)

Stage 4

;7 April 2018 — Hogeland to

Winsum Winsum (; ) is a town and a former municipality in the northeastern Netherlands. On 1 January 2019 the municipality merged with the municipalities of Bedum, De Marne and Eemsmond to form the new municipality Het Hogeland. The town of Winsum was ...

Stage 5

;8 April 2018 —

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

to Groningen,

Classification leadership table

In the 2018 Healthy Ageing Tour, six different jerseys were awarded. For the

general classification The general classification (or the GC) in road bicycle racing is the category that tracks overall times for riders in multi-stage races. Each stage will have a stage winner, but the overall winner in the GC is the rider who has the fastest cumulati ...

, calculated by adding each cyclist's finishing times on each stage, and allowing time bonuses for the first three finishers at intermediate sprints and at the finish of mass-start stages, the leader received a yellow jersey. This classification was considered the most important of the 2018 Healthy Ageing Tour, and the winner of the classification was considered the winner of the race. Additionally, there was a

points classification The points classification is a secondary award category in road bicycle racing. Points are given for high finishes and, in some cases, for winning sprints at certain places along the route, most often called ''intermediate sprints''. The points c ...

, which awarded a green jersey. In the points classification, cyclists received points for finishing in the top 15 in a stage. For winning a stage, a rider earned 25 points, with 20 for second, 16 for third, 14 for fourth, 12 for fifth, 10 for sixth with a point fewer per place down to a single point for 15th place. The third classification was the sprints classification, the leader of which was awarded an orange jersey. In the sprints classification, riders received points for finishing in the top three at intermediate sprint points during each stage. The fourth jersey represented the young rider classification, marked by a white jersey. This was decided in the same way as the general classification, but only riders born after 1 January 1996 were eligible to be ranked in the classification. Other jerseys were awarded to the best club rider amongst the amateur riders (blue), and for the most courageous rider showing fighting spirit (red). There was also a classification for teams, in which the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage were added together; the leading team at the end of the race was the team with the lowest total time.

Notes

References

Sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Healthy Ageing Tour, 2018 2018 in women's road cycling 2018 in Dutch sport

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...