Nooijen delivers another devastating performance, claims second time trial victory in Eneco Tour

Lieke Nooijen had attacked with incredible force in the prologue of the Eneco Tour, taking the lead in the process. However, Sandrine Tas spoiled her party a day later. The Belgian won the sprint in Ede and took over the leader’s jersey. It promised to be a thrilling battle between the two, but once again, a time trial was on the schedule.

In Tilburg, the women had to cover 13.6 kilometers—a true time trial. Christina Schweinberger was the first to start. The Austrian rider from Fenix-Premier Tech is a true specialist and finished third at the World Time Trial Championships just three years ago. It was therefore no surprise that she immediately set the first benchmark time, and at first glance, it was a very fast one.

At the finish line, she clocked a time of 17:41, putting her eight seconds ahead of Britain’s Robyn Clay. Behind them, the gaps were already much wider. But later in the day, it was the other favourites’ turn. Viktoria Chladonova (Visma | Lease a Bike), who finished fourth at the U23 World time trial Championships, was nine seconds off the winning time.

Chladonova's second lap, in particular, was very strong. We saw several riders who had been faster in the first lap struggle to match her time.

But Silke Smulders just managed to pull it off: the Dutch rider from Liv AlUla Jayco clocked a time six-tenths of a second faster than the top time. An impressive performance, but she didn’t get to stay in the hot seat for long.

Because the big names were on their way. Femke de Vries (Visma | Lease a Bike) beat Smulders’ time by a full ten hundredths of a second. Quinty Ton (Liv AlUla Jayco) fell two hundredths short of the top time. But Lieke Nooijen was flying. The Dutch rider had won the prologue and was already significantly faster than her rivals at the halfway point.

She had to make up a second on Tas, who posted the fifth split time. Nienke Vinke, European time trial champion in the U23 category, was the first to beat De Vries’ time: she finished 4.5 seconds ahead. But Nooijen? She was really much faster than the rest. The difference at the finish was twenty seconds!