After a twenty-year absence, the Tour of Holland returned to the cycling calendar last year. Although the event was accompanied by some teething problems due to safety problems on the course, the organization of the multi-day competition on Dutch soil is extremely ambitious. In 2026, a women’s race will be added to the program, but how wise is that?
The open-air museum in Arnhem is the place where the organization shares its plans for the coming years regarding the Tour of Holland, as it was called last year. This is a media meeting with buzzing promotional videos and stirring words. The ambition literally echoes through the hall.
Because, there is news. The Tour of Holland, which since last year has been the successor to the Tour of the Netherlands, which was stopped in 2004, will be introduced as a two-part event from 2026: with a men’s and women’s race. Race director Roxane Kneteman cannot believe her luck. “I am incredibly proud. It is really great that it is actually happening now. Women’s cycling also deserves this. We are not going to have a party in one category, but in at least two.”
The women’s race of the upcoming Eneco Tour will replace the Simac Ladies Tour, which had its last edition last year. The addition is a happy fact for the organization, which has also secured a new main sponsor: Eneco will be the namesake of the stage race through the Netherlands for several years from the next edition in October. The energy company already sponsored several predecessors of this Tour of Holland from 2005 to 2016, but these also passed through Belgium.
Lessons learned from last year
Yet not everything is about growth. There are also many lessons from the past for those involved. Last year, the third stage was canceled prematurely because a car drove onto the course after ignoring stop signs. This temporarily shook the riders’ confidence in the safety of the course. With the addition of the women’s race, the pressure to keep everything on track becomes even greater.
“We have learned lessons from last year. For example, we receive help from police guidance at some of the most important stages,” says Niels Markensteijn, CEO of TIG Sports, the company behind the Tour of Holland. Last year the organization was completely dependent on volunteers to stop traffic.
The blueprint for the logistics operation for the next racing week is already in place, says Markensteijn. “We cannot say everything about it yet, but the contours are clear. In the prologue and time trial, men and women ride one after the other on the same course. In most stage locations we are working on a format in which they ride simultaneously: first the women on the final circuit, then the men. In some stages it is also possible that they start in different parts of the day.”
The course of the upcoming Eneco Tour brings together a number of successful components from the previous edition with new components.
Ambition is an asset
The race starts, just like last year, with an evening prologue in The Hague and now the finish is again in Arnhem. In between, the peloton visits all corners of the Netherlands. It results in five stages and one prologue. Just like last year, the Drenthe VAM mountain is one of the main attractions and executioners on the course.
The Simac Ladies Tour has been on the World Tour calendar since 2017, the highest level in global cycling. Her successor will initially take a step back to the UCI ProSeries. The men’s race will remain part of the UCI Europe Series, the third level, for the time being. But the ambitions of the leaders are much higher.
“We face major organizational challenges, but we are sure that everything will turn out well. Ultimately, we would like to grow into a fully integrated World Tour event for men and women,” says Markensteijn.
Cycling calendar 2026
• On these days are the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and other major races
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