Ronde van Drenthe (1.1), Netherlands

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The race:

The Albert Achterhes Profonde van Drenthe is a single-day race held in the early season (mid-March in 2015 ) in Drenthe, a province in northeast Netherlands.

Since its first running in 1960, the race has advanced steadily in status, being ranked 1.3 in 2002-2004 and then being elevated to 1.1 in 2005.

In 1994 it was an amateur event and in 1995 and 1996 it was classed "Open".

Since 1998, a companion women's race has been run, which is part of the UCI Women's Road World Cup.

In 2004 the race name was changed from "Dwars door Drenthe" to its current title, "Albert Achterhes Profonde van Drenthe"

In 2011 the race was a two-stage event.

And then, for 2016 it was changed to "Ronde van Drenthe" and the "Dwars door Drenthe" race that made it a two-race weekend has been dropped from the calender.

The race was cancelled in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic and in 2021 it was postponed until late October.