Description
October 15, 2026
2nd Eneco Tour 2026 🇳🇱 (2.1) ME – Stage 2 ITT – Tilburg – Tilburg : 13,6 km
Eneco Tour ME is a UCI WorldTour multi-stage road race across the Netherlands and Belgium,
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October 15, 2026
2nd Eneco Tour 2026 🇳🇱 (2.1) ME – Stage 2 ITT – Tilburg – Tilburg : 13,6 km
Eneco Tour ME is a UCI WorldTour multi-stage road race across the Netherlands and Belgium, combining flat agricultural roads, rolling countryside, cobbled sectors and short climbs. The route typically alternates between fast sprint stages and more selective days through the hilly regions of the Benelux, with an individual time trial sometimes adding a test of sustained power and aerodynamic efficiency. Most stages feature paved roads with limited elevation gain, while the hillier sections include short climbs with gradients of 5–10% and occasional steeper ramps. Narrow lanes, technical corners and exposed farmland make positioning important, while crosswinds can split the peloton into echelons. Racing often begins with early breakaways before sprint teams or general classification contenders control the pace. Repeated accelerations on climbs and cobbled sections can gradually reduce the field, while flatter roads allow groups to regroup. Stage finishes can produce bunch sprints, reduced-group battles or late attacks, depending on terrain and wind conditions.
Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek) doubled up on victories at the Eneco Tour, adding the stage 2 individual time trial to his prologue success in the Netherlands on Thursday.
In a close-fought battle over the flat 13.6km course in Tilburg, Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) had set the best time and held off a powerful charge from Ethan Hayter (Soudal-QuickStep) by less than half a second, but the Swedish rider was simply too fast and knocked him off the hot seat as the last starter.
Almost crashing as getting on the power too early caused him to pedal strike around one of the final corners, Söderqvist stayed up and arrived at the line in a time of 15:04 to beat Fisher-Black by 11 seconds, also the only rider to average more than 54kph throughout his effort.
With a small hop over the line, the Swede netted the eighth win of his career and sixth in a time trial as a professional, also extending his overall lead of the race to 14 seconds from Hayter and 15 from Fisher-Black.
“It was a fast one, actually; I think I experienced it faster than I expected beforehand. I didn’t feel too much headwind even though we were talking about it a lot before, so it was just a good day, and I cannot say much more than that,” said Söderqvist.
“It was nice corners, kept you on your toes a bit – how I like it – and it was a bigger pleasure than normally.”
He’ll look to defend his orange jersey in the remaining three stages, with punchy routes and some likely breathless racing standing in his way of the overall title on Sunday. Sat in eighth overall, 29 seconds down, Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike) looks the most likely rider to challenge Söderqvist for the overall.
“For sure I’m happy. Everything so far is as good as we could ever expect. I was strong in this race also last year, so we know it suits me really well, but I’m happy the shape is still here with me this time of year, and we hope to keep it,” he said.
“The pressure will be on, and we know how good people like Christophe Laporte are on Vam Berg,” who won his European title there in 2023, “and even tomorrow will already be a lot of pressure from the other teams who believe. We are here to fight, and this is how we need to pursue.”
Racing continued at the Eneco Tour with Milan De Ceuster (Picnic PostNL) leading the 87 riders off the start ramp of the stage 2 individual time trial in reverse GC order.
An early benchmark was set by Steffen De Schuyteneer (Lotto Intermarché) with a time of 15:46 over the 13.6-kilometre course in Tilburg, until he was beaten by Milan Lanhove (Team Flanders-Baloise), who went eight seconds quicker.
As a result of the opening day’s prologue, most of the top time trial riders were placed inside the top 10 on GC, so Lanhove would have known his time was vulnerable, and it was Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike) who knocked him off the hot seat by 11 seconds – but there were several riders going even faster on the course.
Among those ahead of Campenaerts at the intermediate check were his Visma teammate Edoardo Affini and Kristian Egholm (Lidl-Trek Future Racing), but both lost out by more than 10 seconds after a rapid final run to the line by the Belgian.
Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal Quick-Step) was the first rider to average more than 53kph over the course, knocking Campenaerts out of the top spot, with just eight riders still to come in. But it wasn’t long before Fisher-Black scorched to the line four seconds quicker than the Dutchman.
Hayter ran him close, missing out on the lead by less than half a second, but the prologue winner and pre-stage favourite Söderqvist was powering through the course, clocking through the intermediate check five seconds faster than the Kiwi.
Söderqvist ramped up his speed and the risk, almost coming unstuck before the final kilometre, but he kept it together to convincingly beat everyone by more than 10 seconds.
Results :
 ME - Stage 2 ITT </strong> - Tilburg - Tilburg : 13,6 km
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Eneco Tour ME is a UCI WorldTour multi-stage road race across the Netherlands and Belgium, combining flat agricultural roads, rolling countryside, cobbled sectors and short climbs. The route typically alternates between fast sprint stages and more selective days through the hilly regions of the Benelux, with an individual time trial sometimes adding a test of sustained power and aerodynamic efficiency. Most stages feature paved roads with limited elevation gain, while the hillier sections include short climbs with gradients of 5–10% and occasional steeper ramps. Narrow lanes, technical corners and exposed farmland make positioning important, while crosswinds can split the peloton into echelons. Racing often begins with early breakaways before sprint teams or general classification contenders control the pace. Repeated accelerations on climbs and cobbled sections can gradually reduce the field, while flatter roads allow groups to regroup. Stage finishes can produce bunch sprints, reduced-group battles or late attacks, depending on terrain and wind conditions.
Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek) doubled up on victories at the Eneco Tour, adding the stage 2 individual time trial to his prologue success in the Netherlands on Thursday.
In a close-fought battle over the flat 13.6km course in Tilburg, Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) had set the best time and held off a powerful charge from Ethan Hayter (Soudal-QuickStep) by less than half a second, but the Swedish rider was simply too fast and knocked him off the hot seat as the last starter.
Almost crashing as getting on the power too early caused him to pedal strike around one of the final corners, Söderqvist stayed up and arrived at the line in a time of 15:04 to beat Fisher-Black by 11 seconds, also the only rider to average more than 54kph throughout his effort.
With a small hop over the line, the Swede netted the eighth win of his career and sixth in a time trial as a professional, also extending his overall lead of the race to 14 seconds from Hayter and 15 from Fisher-Black.
"It was a fast one, actually; I think I experienced it faster than I expected beforehand. I didn't feel too much headwind even though we were talking about it a lot before, so it was just a good day, and I cannot say much more than that," said Söderqvist.
"It was nice corners, kept you on your toes a bit – how I like it – and it was a bigger pleasure than normally."
He'll look to defend his orange jersey in the remaining three stages, with punchy routes and some likely breathless racing standing in his way of the overall title on Sunday. Sat in eighth overall, 29 seconds down, Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike) looks the most likely rider to challenge Söderqvist for the overall.
"For sure I'm happy. Everything so far is as good as we could ever expect. I was strong in this race also last year, so we know it suits me really well, but I'm happy the shape is still here with me this time of year, and we hope to keep it," he said.
"The pressure will be on, and we know how good people like Christophe Laporte are on Vam Berg," who won his European title there in 2023, "and even tomorrow will already be a lot of pressure from the other teams who believe. We are here to fight, and this is how we need to pursue."
Racing continued at the Eneco Tour with Milan De Ceuster (Picnic PostNL) leading the 87 riders off the start ramp of the stage 2 individual time trial in reverse GC order.
An early benchmark was set by Steffen De Schuyteneer (Lotto Intermarché) with a time of 15:46 over the 13.6-kilometre course in Tilburg, until he was beaten by Milan Lanhove (Team Flanders-Baloise), who went eight seconds quicker.
As a result of the opening day's prologue, most of the top time trial riders were placed inside the top 10 on GC, so Lanhove would have known his time was vulnerable, and it was Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike) who knocked him off the hot seat by 11 seconds – but there were several riders going even faster on the course.
Among those ahead of Campenaerts at the intermediate check were his Visma teammate Edoardo Affini and Kristian Egholm (Lidl-Trek Future Racing), but both lost out by more than 10 seconds after a rapid final run to the line by the Belgian.
Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal Quick-Step) was the first rider to average more than 53kph over the course, knocking Campenaerts out of the top spot, with just eight riders still to come in. But it wasn't long before Fisher-Black scorched to the line four seconds quicker than the Dutchman.
Hayter ran him close, missing out on the lead by less than half a second, but the prologue winner and pre-stage favourite Söderqvist was powering through the course, clocking through the intermediate check five seconds faster than the Kiwi.
Söderqvist ramped up his speed and the risk, almost coming unstuck before the final kilometre, but he kept it together to convincingly beat everyone by more than 10 seconds.
<strong>Results : </strong>
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