Watch: Riders take shortcut en-masse at Ronde van Limburg

Video footage has emerged from this year's Ronde van Limburg race in the Netherlands showing a number of riders taking marginal gains to a new level, by cutting across a field.

The video, posted by La Flamme Rouge, shows the peloton heading down a narrow country road into a corner. The first half of the peloton passes along the route as normal, before the second half decide they don't quite like their placing in the bunch and decide to cut the corner and head across the field to move further up.

A spectator who saw it happen claims this happens a lot in the Dutch classics, that when one rider finds a shortcut others follow.

This fan added that they hadn't heard that anyone was penalised for the action, probably because the group of riders was so large.

The Ronde van Limburg is a one-day race held in Stein in the South Limburg region of the Netherlands, not to be confused with the Belgian race of the same name that Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) won last year.

The first edition of the Dutch race was held in 1948, and has been won by a Dutchman on all but four occasions.

Ramon Sinkeldam won for his Rabobank team in 2011, while Johnny Hoogerland claimed victory in 2008, the Dutchman famous for being involved in one of the Tour de France's most shocking crashes.

The 180km route features the famous Cauberg, Gulperberg, Adsteeg and  Keutenberg climbs, which also feature in the Amstel Gold Race.