Tilburg > Tilburg 13.5km ITT

Day 3 in the Eneco Tour and both men and women are faced with a 13.5km ITT with just 28m of climbing. This is a day for the TT specialists, they’ll hope to gain enough time to put themselves into a strong position on GC with a few challenging days to come.

Weather

The women’s race is between 10:30 and 12:45, with the men at 12:45-15:00. It’s going to be a nice day in Tilburg, 13 degrees for the start of the women’s race and a nice 20 degrees for the men. The wind is important, it looks like the women will get 13km/h and the men 15km/h.

Route

A little loop in the countryside, there aren’t many corners, it’s perfect for the specialists.

Contenders

Jakob Söderqvist – got the win in the prologue, beating Wessel Mouris and Laporte by just 1 second. The longer effort should suit the Swede well, the straights are where he can put out a lot of power. I remember an interview he did earlier this year where he said he liked TTs which had lots of variation in power, this isn’t one of those, but I still think he should be the favourite. Last year, he was 2^nd in the 15km ITT, losing out to Ethan Hayter by just 3 seconds, can he reverse it this year?

Ethan Hayter – 4^th in the prologue just 2 seconds down, he’ll want a big ride in this stage. Winning the corresponding stage last year should give him confidence, the power route will be good for Ethan, he should in the mix for the win.

Christophe Laporte – so close in the prologue, the longer effort isn’t as good for him compared to the two already mentioned. Last year, he was 3^rd, 15 seconds down, it’s vital he limits his losses in order to protect his GC hopes. 

Kristian Egholm – another Lidl-Trek option, he’s capable of doing special things in this discipline, but does struggle a bit with consistency.

Finn Fisher-Black – just like Laporte, this is a very important stage in terms of his GC ambitions. The Kiwi is a strong TT rider, this type of distance is good for him, and he’ll hope to push for the top 3.

Michiel Mouris – the youngster just pipped his Red Bull teammate in the prologue, en route to a 5^th place finish. I have him pegged as a prologue specialist; the longer distance is unlikely to be his friend.

Wessel Mouris – came very close to causing a huge upset in the prologue, it must have been really disappointing to lose out to Söderqvist by the narrowest of margins. The Dutchman has done well in TTs this year, but I can’t see him taking the win.

Edoardo Affini – the prologue didn’t suit him, but the longer TT will be right up his street. The Italian has been excellent in this discipline throughout his career, he’ll see this as a big opportunity to get his first win since he won the Euro Champs ITT in 2024. Weirdly, this is his first ITT since last year’s Tour de France, hopefully he’s still doing plenty of training on his TT bike.

Victor Campenaerts – a former TT specialist who’s slowly moved away from that discipline to become more of an all-rounder. The Belgian will still be capable of a good result, who knows, he might even roll back the clock and take the win.

Lieke Nooijen – to win the prologue by 8 seconds was incredible, it tells you everything you need to know about what will happen in this stage, everything is pointing to a dominant ride and a comfortable win.

Sandrine Tas – took a great win today, that was a strong uphill sprint from the Belgian. 4^th place in the prologue was good, Tas will be looking for the top 3 in this stage and will hope to limit her losses to Nooijen.

Charlotte Kool – she’ll be furious after today, it was a blatant deviation from Guarischi. Kool was 2^nd in the prologue but this longer route isn’t as good for her, it’s about trying to limit losses to Nooijen.

Nienke Vinke – she’s been pretty good on her TT bike in recent weeks, I think Vinke should be pushing for the top 3.

Prediction Time

The men’s race should be close, but I think Jakob Söderqvist will take another win. In the women’s event, no one will get close to Lieke Nooijen.

Betting Corner

I was happy to taker Merlier today at 1.5 but I won’t go in on Söderqvist. I think Merlier was a cert to win, there’s more risk involved with Söderqvist.