Groenewegen not in the picture: Merlier outclasses competition in the Eneco Tour

The prologue of the Eneco Tour delivered exactly the spectacle everyone had hoped for. In the three-kilometer stage through The Hague, it was Unibet Rose Rockets that made a strong impression, with three riders in the top ten. Wessel Mouris, however, fell just a few hundredths of a second short of the win, which went to Sweden’s Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek), who took the overall lead.

After the prologue, it was time for the first stage. It took place in and around Ede. It was a familiar course for many, as the Dutch National Cycling Championships had been held on the same roads in 2025, Danny van Poppel won that day.

Despite a few small hills and a tough finish, a bunch sprint was still expected.

Three riders managed to break away early on. It was gravel specialist Rick Ottema (EEW-VDK) who made his move, and he was joined by Johan Dorussen (Metec-SOLARWATT) and Luke Verburg (Azerion/Villa Valkenburg). That last name is also familiar to many: the 25-year-old rider is a regular training partner of Mathieu van der Poel.

So the breakaway was made up entirely of Dutch riders, enjoying the day on home roads. In the peloton, the sprinter teams took control, and most of the responsibility fell on Soudal Quick-Step, which had the top favorite, Tim Merlier, on its team. As a result, the peloton quickly closed in on the leaders.

The breakaway put on a thrilling show by attacking each other in the final five kilometres. But neither of them proved to be stronger than the other, so they were caught by the surging peloton with about ten kilometers to go.

There, we saw Visma | Lease a Bike, Soudal Quick-Step, and Picnic PostNL take the lead.

In the final kilometers, the chaos leading up to the sprint was intense, with very few sprint trains remaining intact. Soudal Quick-Step took the lead fairly early on, but Elmar Reinders set up Dylan Groenewegen well.

However, Merlier attacked early and stormed past everyone in his path. He was able to celebrate early on and left Groenewegen several lengths behind, who finished second.

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