Men and women to start together in major Eneco Tour format change

The former Simac Ladies Tour will become the Eneco Tour Women this October, with the men's and women's races held as separate competitions across the same six day event.

The most striking change comes in the opening prologue in The Hague, where riders from the two races will start alternately. A man will leave the ramp, followed by a woman, with the sequence continuing throughout the prologue.

Race director Roxane Knetemann stressed that the women's race will not serve as a support event.

"It will be a cycling week with two fully fledged races," she said.

The format will not be used for the 13.6 kilometre individual time trial in Tilburg. Organisers believe the difference in speeds between the two fields could create unsafe overtaking situations.

Later in the week, the men's and women's races will be on the road at the same time in Drenthe, following separate routes towards the same finish on the VAM Berg.

The women will take a shorter route from Hoogeveen, while the men's race features a 110 kilometre approach with several cobbled sectors.

"This is what we see as the optimal integration of a women's and men's race," said Thijs Rondhuis, who is responsible for the women's event. "You can really put them alongside each other as two equal races and they flow into one another."

The integration goes a step further on the final day in Arnhem.

Both pelotons will start together and ride the opening three kilometres as one group before the routes split. The women will continue on a shorter circuit in Arnhem, while the men head onto a longer loop north of the city.

The two races will remain separate competitions, with their own classifications, officials and support structures.

The changes continue the experimental approach of the event since its return to the calendar. Last year, when it was still known as the Tour of Holland, organisers introduced automatic start gates for its time trial events.

The race has since been renamed the Eneco Tour, with the women's event brought under the same name for 2026.

Other stage races have also moved towards closer integration of men's and women's racing.

The Tour de Suisse held both races across the same five days in 2026, with shared host locations but separate race windows.

The Tour Down Under is set to introduce another format in 2027, with the men's and women's races using the same course, on the same day and over the same distance on several stages, while starting at different times.

At the Eneco Tour, the overlap will happen within the race programme itself, with alternating starts in The Hague, simultaneous racing in Drenthe and a joint departure in Arnhem.