Limburg's Mooiste
Limburgs Mooiste ( German "Limburgs Schönste" ) is a cycling tour in the Dutch province of Limburg . It is the touring counterpart to the everyone's version of the Amstel Gold Race . The organizer is the “Stichting Grand Ballon” cycling club in Heerlen, the Netherlands .
Because of the special topography in the south of the Netherlands (numerous steep ramps and climbs) this event attracts several thousand cycling enthusiasts from all over Europe year after year after Whitsun and is one of the largest events of its kind Week later, as those responsible would otherwise not be able to cope with the crowds due to the PinkPop Festival taking place at Whitsun and the more than 10,000 participants arriving just a week later. With the Cauberg in Valkenburg , one of the legendary climbs in cycling is part of the “Limburgs Mooiste” route, which is one of the reasons for its great popularity.
Different routes and distances are offered for different performance classes, these range from 100 km "easy" to 250 km with 35 climbs. In addition to the "Wielerklassieker", the cycling event that is classified by the NTFU (Dutch Touring Bicycle Union) with the "hors categorie", the highest level of difficulty, ATB ("All terrain bike"), family and MTB - Tours ("mountain bike") offered.
In 2008 there were 15,000 cyclists on the road, including 2,500 participants in the mountain bike tour and 270 “Fiets-je-Fit” participants (family tour).