![Eneco Tour 2026 – Stage 1 [FULL STAGE]](/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Eneco-Tour-2026-–-Stage-1-FULL-STAGE.png)
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October 14, 2026
2nd Eneco Tour 2026 🇳🇱 (2.1) ME – Stage 1 – Ede – Ede : 120 km
Eneco Tour ME is a UCI WorldTour multi-stage road race across the Netherlands and Belgium,
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October 14, 2026
2nd Eneco Tour 2026 🇳🇱 (2.1) ME – Stage 1 – Ede – Ede : 120 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.
Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) sailed to victory on stage 1 at Eneco Tour launching a long-range sprint on the final 400 metres which had no reply from rivals.
Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets) trailed in second while Gerben Thijssen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) took third ahead of Visma-Lease a Bike’s Christophe Laporte.
The win moved Merlier 27 positions in the GC standings, now fifth overall. The top four positions held firm with just a two-second gap established from the opening prologue, Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek) in the leader’s jersey. Wessel Mouris (Unibet Rose Rockets) remains in second place, Laporte in third and Merlier’s teammate Ethan Hayter in fourth.
Once at the flamme rouge, Soudal-QuickStep went into formation for Merlier on the right side of the course. At the final 90-degree corner with 400 metres to go, Nils Eekhoff from Picnic PostNL took the lead with riders from Unibet Rose Rockets, Visma-Lease a Bike and Alpecin just behind. Merlier exploded past them all and won by several bike lengths.
“It was quite hectic [in the final kilometre], and then we speed up, a really high speed. It was also difficult to find each other, but in the end we did really well,” Merlier said about scoring his 13th victory on Wednesday.
“They bring me to a good position, and then I choose what I’m gonna do in the last 500 metres. I think it was a bit of a risk to go a bit further, but in the end, I can go in the slipstream, and speed up from behind the other guys. This kind of finish suits me really well.”
Patience pays off
After the 3.1km prologue to set the leaderboard, stage 1 took place with a flat 40-kilometre circuit on the north side of Ede tackled three times for 120km.
The peloton began the opening kilometres sizing up each other under the sunny skies, with the seven WorldTour teams massing at the front. Then a trio from a Dutch Continental squads were allowed to accelerate away – Johan Dorussen (Metec-SOLARWATT p/b Mantel), Rick Ottema (EEW-VDK Cyclingteam) and Luke Verburg (Azerion-Villa Valkenburg). .
Once on the second circuit, the three riders took shares in maintaining their breakaway and built a gap of 3:00. On the approach to Ede for the final loop, the gap began to fade as the peloton sensed time to position their fast men.
The breakaway trio scooped up all the bonuses at the intermediate sprint with 24km to go, but the peloton was only 15 seconds back with 15km to go. A wall of sprint teams, led by Soudal-QuickStep, Picnic PostNL and Unibet Rose Rockets, spread across the road and charged from behind to end the breakaway with 11km to go.
As the shadows began to stretch across the road with the sun beginning to fade in late afternoon, the peloton seemed to settle down on the next four kilometres heading back into the city limits. Visma-Lease a Bike edged to the front to support Christophe Laporte alongside Soudal-QuickStep while Unibet Rose Rockets held position on an outside line for Wessel Mouris with Lotto-Intermarché sending riders up. Lidl-Trek was there for race leader Jakob Söderqvist, biding their time as the finish neared.
It wasn’t until 2km to go that the wide procession began to fracture, Soudal-QuickStep amping up the action. This straight run led to a defining sharp left-hand corner onto Arnhemseweg for the final 400 metres.
On that final corner, Merlier used the slipstream of his teammate Bert Van Lerberghe to vault from sixth position to first as he flew down the straightaway for the victory.
Results :
 ME - Stage 1 </strong> - Ede - Ede : 120 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.
Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) sailed to victory on stage 1 at Eneco Tour launching a long-range sprint on the final 400 metres which had no reply from rivals.
Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets) trailed in second while Gerben Thijssen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) took third ahead of Visma-Lease a Bike's Christophe Laporte.
The win moved Merlier 27 positions in the GC standings, now fifth overall. The top four positions held firm with just a two-second gap established from the opening prologue, Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek) in the leader's jersey. Wessel Mouris (Unibet Rose Rockets) remains in second place, Laporte in third and Merlier's teammate Ethan Hayter in fourth.
Once at the flamme rouge, Soudal-QuickStep went into formation for Merlier on the right side of the course. At the final 90-degree corner with 400 metres to go, Nils Eekhoff from Picnic PostNL took the lead with riders from Unibet Rose Rockets, Visma-Lease a Bike and Alpecin just behind. Merlier exploded past them all and won by several bike lengths.
"It was quite hectic [in the final kilometre], and then we speed up, a really high speed. It was also difficult to find each other, but in the end we did really well," Merlier said about scoring his 13th victory on Wednesday.
"They bring me to a good position, and then I choose what I'm gonna do in the last 500 metres. I think it was a bit of a risk to go a bit further, but in the end, I can go in the slipstream, and speed up from behind the other guys. This kind of finish suits me really well."
<strong>Patience pays off</strong>
After the 3.1km prologue to set the leaderboard, stage 1 took place with a flat 40-kilometre circuit on the north side of Ede tackled three times for 120km.
The peloton began the opening kilometres sizing up each other under the sunny skies, with the seven WorldTour teams massing at the front. Then a trio from a Dutch Continental squads were allowed to accelerate away - Johan Dorussen (Metec-SOLARWATT p/b Mantel), Rick Ottema (EEW-VDK Cyclingteam) and Luke Verburg (Azerion-Villa Valkenburg). .
Once on the second circuit, the three riders took shares in maintaining their breakaway and built a gap of 3:00. On the approach to Ede for the final loop, the gap began to fade as the peloton sensed time to position their fast men.
The breakaway trio scooped up all the bonuses at the intermediate sprint with 24km to go, but the peloton was only 15 seconds back with 15km to go. A wall of sprint teams, led by Soudal-QuickStep, Picnic PostNL and Unibet Rose Rockets, spread across the road and charged from behind to end the breakaway with 11km to go.
As the shadows began to stretch across the road with the sun beginning to fade in late afternoon, the peloton seemed to settle down on the next four kilometres heading back into the city limits. Visma-Lease a Bike edged to the front to support Christophe Laporte alongside Soudal-QuickStep while Unibet Rose Rockets held position on an outside line for Wessel Mouris with Lotto-Intermarché sending riders up. Lidl-Trek was there for race leader Jakob Söderqvist, biding their time as the finish neared.
It wasn't until 2km to go that the wide procession began to fracture, Soudal-QuickStep amping up the action. This straight run led to a defining sharp left-hand corner onto Arnhemseweg for the final 400 metres.
On that final corner, Merlier used the slipstream of his teammate Bert Van Lerberghe to vault from sixth position to first as he flew down the straightaway for the victory.
<strong>Results : </strong>
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