Eneco Tour integrates women's and men's races, alternating starts in prologue

The Eneco Tour, which emerged from the former Simac Ladies Tour and the NIBC Tour of Holland in 2025, adopted a distinctive format that closely integrates professional men's and women's cycling across its six stages. Race director Roxane Knetemann stated, "The women's race is not a side event, but a full-fledged race alongside the men's race." This integration aims to strengthen the event and enhance the visibility of both women's and men's cycling on a national and international scale.

The races kicked off with a 3.1km prologue in The Hague, where men and women alternated their starts. Both races shared starting locations but utilized staggered start times or slightly varied routes primarily based on local circuits. Thijs Rondhuis from Courage Events noted, "This setup makes the course easier to manage, limits traffic disruption, and gives the public the chance to see the race multiple times." He added that coordinating two races in one day requires meticulous planning to ensure the safety of riders, spectators, and staff.

Following the prologue, Stage 1 occurred in Ede, featuring a flat 40-kilometre circuit. The men's race involved three laps while the women tackled two. Men's racing commenced right after the women finished, with the women's podium presentation occurring simultaneously with the men's team presentation.

Stage 2 included a 13.6-kilometre individual time trial in Tilburg, anticipated to significantly impact the general classification for both genders. While the schedule indicated matching start times for the two races, Knetemann confirmed that the fields would not collide.

A hilly Stage 3 was set in Limburg, starting at the Tom Dumoulin Bike Park in Sittard, including a neutral rollout to a circuit around Watersley, traversed four times by women and five times by men. Once again, the men's race was slated to start after the women's.

The fourth stage, dubbed the queen stage, tackled the VAM-berg, the steepest hill in the Netherlands. Women raced a distance of 114.1 kilometres on a more direct route to the VAM-berg loop, while men faced a longer race of 149.8 kilometres encompassing five cobblestone sections before reaching the same circuit following the women's event.

The Eneco Tour concluded in Arnhem, with a similar finish layout: men following a long circuit for 149.2 kilometres; meanwhile, women completed nine laps of a shorter loop for 70.1 kilometres.