HAUTE ROUTE ALPS – AMELIA VAN HOVE WINS IN HER CATEGORY
The women’s race has seen a similarly stunning performance with two riders making it into the top ten leaderboard overall. Samantha Arnaudo from Savigliano, Cuneo won the women’s and came eighth overall with a time of 16h45m.
Janine Meyer [GER], who won the women’s category at last year’s Haute Route Alps (taking 21st place in the General Classification), took second place and tenth overall with a time of 16h54m.
TRAINING ON THE FLAT PAYS OFF
Dutch rider Jasper Verkuijl not only conquered the Haute Route Alps for the first time, but came fifth overall. The father of two has been training hard in the Netherlands, who has used the country’s famously – or infamously, depending on who you talk to – flat ground to train for one of the most challenging races in the amateur cycling calendar. “After the 21 hairpins of the official Alpe d’Huez on the third stage, the mighty Galibier got me good and the fourth stage was a big fight again. The Col de la Croix de Fer was already a massive climb, with attacks on the dips and cat and mouse all the way up. It has been an incredible journey and I’m happy to have finished at such a high general classification.”
It could hardly be more international
With no fewer than nine nationalities in the first 15 of the final standings, it shows just how international this race really is. No less than 26 different nationalities are at the start. But the cycling country par excellence – Belgium seems not to have really discovered the Haute Route yet. How else to explain that the first Belgian – however meritorious his performance – can only be found in 41st place.
Yet there was one Belgian who won the Haute Route Alps in her category this year. This honor went to Amelia van Hove who won the 50-59 years category among the women. With a 66th place overall still a very strong performance from Amelia!
Final ranking:
1. Negri Michele – IT
2. Bonoud Thomas – Fr op 39’57”
3. Holder Jason – GBR op 51’26”
4. De Vicente Benjamin – CL op 26’21”
5. Verkuijl Jasper – NL op 59’41”
6. Archibald Rod – GBR op 1u07’01”
7. Stoppa Mattia – IT op 1u12’29”
8. Arnaudo Samantha – IT op 1u15’49” – First woman
9. Deuel Drake – USA op 1u20’32”
10. Meyer Janine – GER op 1u24’16”- Second woman and first in the 40-49 category
11. Meyer Michaeil – GER op 1u34’34”
12. Dias Francisco – ESP – 1u52’00”
13. Hung Eric – CAN – 1u54’32”
14. Nagtegaal Casper – NL – 1u57’02”
15. Dupré Jean-Mathieu – FR – 1u57’32”
De Belgen:
41. Stevens Vincent – BE op 3u19’06”
55. Van Hove Amelia – BE op 3u58’38” – Amelia was winner in her 50 – 59 category
66. Mermans Vincent – BE op 4u13’46”
127. Renquin Johan – BE op 6u24’29”
HAUTE ROUTE 2023 CALENDAR
Featuring challenging 3-, 5- and 7-day events in iconic cycling destinations worldwide, the Haute Route provides the opportunity to ride incredible routes and legendary climbs in a peloton of passionate cyclists. Whatever level or ranking, Haute Route provides a supportive and positive atmosphere to help cyclists reach new heights. This year’s calendar includes:
Haute Route Crans-Montana, 9-11 June (3 days)
Haute Route Pyrenees, 4-8 July (5 days)
Haute Route Alps, 20-26 August (7 days)
Haute Route Dolomites, 29 August – 2 September (5 days)
Haute Route Ventoux, 6-8 October (3 days)
More information on each event available here: https://www.hauteroute.org/events
Photos © Ben Becker
