Eneco Tour 2026 – Prologue [FULL STAGE – Individual Time Trial] (ME|WE)

October 13, 2026

28th Eneco Tour Women / 2nd Eneco Tour 2026 🇳🇱 (2.1) ME/WE – Prologue ITT – The Hague – The Hague : 3,1 km

The recreated Tour of Holland, now Eneco Tour, made a return last year after a 21-year absence from the UCI calendar, and the composition of two time trials and four road stages was replicated for the 2026 edition. However, the twist this year was that all six days of racing integrated racing for pro women, formerly the Ladies Tour of Holland. The blend of staggered start times and similar routes using circuits began with the Prologue. The action began Tuesday with a unique process for the 3.1km prologue – waves of women and men sharing the same course. The first 28 women took the start in The Hague at one-minute intervals followed by a five-minute break and then the first 28 men hit the course with the same spacing. This pattern for alternating waves was repeated, with a total of 88 women and 88 men on the start list, the early riders seeing the sun setting while the city course became illuminated by street lamps in the darkness. The start ramp was inside the Sportcampus Zuiderpark multi-functional arena, Robbe Claeys (Volkerwessels Cycling) the first men’s rider down the ramp at 18:34 local time for a quick lap around the park, and setting the standard at 3:52.

ME :
Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek) won the prologue Tuesday night in The Hague to take the first leader’s jersey of the Eneco Tour.

Sweden’s time trial champion was the third-to-last rider on the 3.1km course and posted a winning time of 3 minutes, 32 seconds. A surprising time just seven-tenths of a second slower gave 23-year old Wessel Mouris (Unibet Rose Rockets) second place. Last year’s stage race GC winner Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike) was third, 1.4 seconds behind the winner.

“These prologues are so much adrenaline, and you’re really in a hot box in the end and super on your nerves when you cross the finish line,” Söderqvist said to TV cameras at the finish.

He had no idea how tight the times were, and said “oh, better buy a lottery ticket then” when told his time was half a second better than Wessel Mouris.

“I had a pleasure to have a couple of days in orange also last year, and to be back here with good enough shape to start it even better.”

For a while it looked like both Mouris brothers would grab podium spots, with Michiel Mouris (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) going second to his brother. Then the final four riders in the final wave shook the standings on scorching rides.

Great Britain’s time trial champion Ethan Hayter (Soudal-QuickStep), who won the prologue last year, knocked Michiel Mouris down a spot with a faster time by 1 second. Then Laporte and Söderqvist dispatched the 19-year-old to fifth place, Hayter going fourth, and one brother on the podium.

Nils Eekhoff (Picnic PostNL) took over the hot seat just six riders later with 3:47, and then was dispatched by Joeri Schaper (Soudal-QuickStep) who went four seconds faster.

The second wave of 30 riders started with Thor Verleysen (Volkerwessels Cycling). Eight riders later, Hartthijs De Vries (Unibet Rose Rockets) flew across the course as the first rider to go under three minutes, 40 seconds, posting 3:39. He was nearly knocked off the hot seat by Victor Campenaerts (Visma-Lease a Bike), who came through six-tenths of a second slower.

It was De Vries’ teammate Thomáš Kopecký who then took over with 3:37. He held the best time as only Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal-QuickStep) came within one second from the next six riders completing the middle wave.

The final wave saw 23-year-old Wessel Mouris grab the lead in a time of 3:33. The TV camera showed him smiling broadly when his brother, Michiel Mouris almost took the spotlight, going just two seconds slower. The brothers, however, were one-two with 15 riders to go.

The last three riders featured Söderqvist, Laporte and New Zealand TT champion Finn Fischer-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe). Söderqvist stormed around the circuit for the best time, with Laporte getting a podium spot, but Fisher-Black coming up short in sixth.

WE :
Lieke Nooijen (Visma-Lease a Bike) secured the prologue victory and took the first leader’s jersey at the Eneco Tour Women. The Dutch rider covered the 3.1km course with the fastest time of 3:51, beating her compatriots Charlotte Kool (Fenix-Premier Tech) and Lonneke Uneken (VolkerWessels) by eight seconds in The Hague.

Nooijen started her time trial in the third of three waves, surpassing both Kool, who posted the early benchmark and had sat in the hot seat since the opening wave, and Uneken to take the day’s spoils.

The Dutch road race national champion now leads the overall classification heading into stage 1 in Ede on Wednesday.

“I’m super happy with this victory. I’ve worked really hard towards this, so it’s great to win such a short prologue by eight seconds,” she said.

“I went full gas from the start and managed to maintain my speed throughout. These short efforts really suit me, and that paid off today.”

During the first wave of the women’s prologue, Kool posted the fastest time of 3:59, averaging nearly 17kph across the 3.1km course. Femke Markus (SD Worx-Protime) and Margaux Vigié (Visma-Lease a Bike) were both three seconds slower in second and third place

However, the second wave started about thirty minutes with three riders slotting in behind Kool; Sandrine Tas (Lotto Intermarché Ladies) stormed into the runner’s-up spot just a fraction of a second slower, Maud Rijnbeek (VolkerWessels) a two seconds back and Letizia Borghesi (AG Insurance-Soudal) at three seconds back, bumping Markus and Vigié out of the top three.

The third wave on course would decide the final top placings of the prologue, and while Kool was the day’s leader for much of this event, her time was encroached upon by Uneken, who stormed across the finish line with the second-fastest time of the day, a fraction of a second slower than Kool.

But there would be one faster rider on course to surpass them both, with Nooijen putting a stamp on the prologue with the victory and the event’s first leader’s jersey.

Results ME:

Results WE: