Söderqvist extends lead in Eneco Tour, outclasses opponents in nail-biting battle against the clock

Following Tuesday’s prologue, which took place in The Hague over just 3.1 kilometres, a 13.6-kilometre time trial was scheduled for Thursday in Tilburg. After his victory in the prologue, Jakob Söderqvist was the overall leader and the top favourite to win, but because the time gaps in the prologue were so small, it promised to be an exciting race.

The fifth-place finisher in the World Time Trial Championships faced a tough challenge in Tilburg, this time mainly from the true time trial specialists. Victor Campenaerts, riding for Visma | Lease a Bike, once again posted a solid time trial performance, briefly putting the Belgian in the hot seat. Unibet Rose Rockets, which came within less than a second of Söderqvist’s victory in the prologue, saw Tomas Kopecky post a time faster than the current leader’s.

However, that record had already been broken by Pepijn Reinderink, who is having a fantastic autumn with Soudal Quick-Step, including a stage win at the Tour of Luxembourg. The Dutchman was 2 seconds faster than Campenaerts, but couldn’t enjoy the hot seat for very long. Finn Fisher-Black, riding for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, was another 4 hundredths of a second faster.

Teammate Michiel Mouris rode an excellent time trial, but still finished 16 seconds behind, quite far from the win. Ethan Hayter made a better attempt for Quick Step, but the Brit fell half a second (!) short of knocking Fisher-Black out of the hot seat. So it turned into another nail-biting race down to the wire in the Eneco Tour, until Söderqvist entered the fray...

The Swede, wearing his leader’s jersey, was allowed to start last and thus knew exactly what he had to do. At the halfway point, he was already 5 seconds faster than Fisher-Black, and by the finish line, that lead had grown to 11 seconds. With that, he solidified his lead in the general classification, maintaining a substantial advantage over the riders who hope to contend for the overall victory in the second half of the Eneco Tour.

1. Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek) – 00:15:04
2. Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) + 0:11
3. Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step) + 0:12
4. Pepijn Reinderink (Soudal Quick-Step) + 0:16
5. Tomas Kopecky (Unibet Rose Rockets) + 0:18

6. Wessel Mouris (Unibet Rose Rockets) + 0:19
7. Victor Campenaerts (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) + 0:22
8. Michiel Mouris (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) + 0:28
9. Christophe Laporte (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) + 0:28
10. Kristian Egholm (Lidl-Trek) + 0:32