The 2026 Eneco Tour Women begins this evening with a 3.1km prologue around the Sportcampus Zuiderpark in The Hague, with the first rider due off at 17:00 BST and live UK coverage beginning at approximately 16:50 BST.
The prologue is the first stage of the newly integrated Eneco Tour, which brings the former Simac Ladies Tour and men’s Tour of Holland together across the same six-day event. The women still have their own race and classifications, but both pelotons will use the same course tonight before moving on to separate race distances across the rest of the week.
There has also been a late change to the starting format. The original plan was for men and women to alternate one rider at a time from the same ramp, but the UCI rejected that arrangement on insurance grounds. Instead, the organisers will now switch between blocks of roughly 30 women and 30 men throughout the evening.
Eneco Tour Women 2026 prologue start time and viewing details
- Date: Tuesday 13 October 2026
- Start and finish: Sportcampus Zuiderpark, The Hague
- Distance: 3.1km
- First woman starts: 18:00 CEST / 17:00 BST
- Last woman starts: 20:45 CEST / 19:45 BST
- UK TV: TNT Sports
- UK streaming: HBO Max
- Coverage begins: approximately 17:50 CEST / 16:50 BST
The first woman down the ramp will be Quinty van Klink of Regioteam Midden-Nederland. Nienke Vinke is scheduled to close the women’s field at 19:45 BST, with the men continuing after that until the final starter at 20:19 BST.
The full Eneco Tour Women start list contains 84 riders across 14 teams, while the Eneco Tour Women route guide covers the full six-day race.
How to watch the Eneco Tour Women prologue in the UK
UK viewers can follow the prologue through TNT Sports, with the online stream available through HBO Max. HBO Max is now the UK streaming home of TNT Sports, replacing discovery+ for TNT Sports subscribers earlier this year.
The current television schedule has coverage beginning at around 16:50 BST, ten minutes before the first woman starts. That should allow viewers to see the entire women’s prologue as well as the men’s race that runs around it.
The exact TNT Sports linear channel can vary around other live sport, so HBO Max is the safest option if you want the full event stream from the start.
Key Eneco Tour Women prologue start times
The riders have been split into three women’s blocks around the men’s race, which means some of the most important names are spread across almost three hours rather than appearing together at the end.
- 17:11 BST: Imogen Wolff
- 17:14 BST: Femke Markus
- 17:23 BST: Pfeiffer Georgi
- 17:27 BST: Charlotte Kool
- 18:20 BST: Christina Schweinberger
- 18:22 BST: Femke Gerritse
- 18:34 BST: Viktória Chladoňová
- 19:30 BST: Julia Kopecky
- 19:42 BST: Lieke Nooijen
- 19:45 BST: Nienke Vinke
What the 3.1km course means
The Hague prologue is completely flat and only 3.1km long, so the gaps should be small. The opening kilometres are less about sustained time-trial pacing than acceleration, cornering, carrying speed through the turns and repeatedly getting back up to full power.
That should suit riders with track backgrounds, strong short time-trial records and good technical speed. Imogen Wolff, Femke Markus, Lieke Nooijen, Christina Schweinberger and Nienke Vinke all have reasons to target the stage, while Charlotte Kool’s sprint power makes her an interesting outsider over such a short distance.
Vinke arrives only days after winning the European under-23 time trial title and will have the advantage of seeing every previous women’s time before she starts. Nooijen is another obvious rider to watch given her proven ability in short time trials and her position among the main overall contenders.
The Eneco Tour Women contenders preview looks at the wider general classification battle, where Thursday’s 13.6km Tilburg time trial is likely to create much larger gaps than tonight’s opener.
The prologue matters, but Thursday will matter more
With only 3.1km to race, the prologue is unlikely to decide the Eneco Tour Women on its own. A rider losing five or six seconds tonight can recover that later in the week, especially with the longer individual time trial in Tilburg still to come.
It will still establish the first leader’s jersey and could make an important difference for riders who are closely matched across the rest of the route. The VAM-Berg stage and Friday’s hillier race at Watersley will create different tests, but the strongest GC riders will want to avoid giving away free seconds before those stages arrive.
For viewers in the UK, the useful window is straightforward: tune in from 16:50 BST for the start of coverage, with the first woman off at 17:00 BST and the final women’s starter scheduled for 19:45 BST.
