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Cor Vos<\/p>\n
The six-day Eneco Tour finally marked the end of the 2026 season*. For some reason, it feels like the cycling season gets longer every year, and next season, with the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a running from October 3 to 10, it will feel like the longest ever. Now, riders are jetting off to pre-offseason camps to meet new teammates and old ones before some much-needed down\/family time. No bikes in sight (except maybe a mountain bike or two, you know, for fun). <\/p>\n
As for the Wheel Talk podcast, we have one more group episode today for you all before I get to dive into one of my favourite traditions: offseason interviews. I’ve got some awesome ones lined up; I hope you will enjoy them, and if you have any suggestions on who you’d like to hear from, feel free to drop it in the comments or tag me in a message on the Wheel Talk Discord channel. <\/p>\n
*A note that the season isn’t actually over for everyone. The Italian women’s national championship time trial that never happened during the summer is set to take place on Saturday.<\/p>\n
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First things first: Setting the 2027 foundation at the Eneco Tour<\/p>\n
They say that you’re only as good as your last race, so for a few riders who ended their season at the Eneco Tour, that means 2027 is already looking great. <\/p>\n
The first person on that list is Lieke Nooijen of Visma-Lease a Bike, who won the two TT stages of the race and then took the overall. Nooijen was already enjoying a solid season with a win in the Dutch national championship road race, second place in the TT stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (the best result for Visma-Lease a Bike all week), and then a chance to represent the Netherlands in the World Championships in Montreal. Winning two stages at the Eneco Tour just shows how much potential the 25-year-old has, especially for Visma-Lease a Bike, a team that had a quieter 2026 season than expected.<\/p>\n
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Femke Markus, who is on her way from SD Worx-Protime to Visma-Lease a Bike, also showed incredible strength all week to win stage 3 and finish second overall. Her stage win was a daring one, with Visma furiously chasing to make sure Nooijen kept the overall lead. <\/p>\n
Markus was one of the up-and-coming riders on VolkerWessels until 2023, when she moved to SD Worx for the next four seasons. Her move to Visma is an exciting one.<\/p>\n
Then there’s Maud Rijnbeek, a member of Markus’s old team VolkerWessels, who put down an incredible week overall, but really shone during the fourth stage \u2013\u00a0the queen stage \u2013\u00a0on the Col du Vam. The 23-year-old was part of a breakaway that was eventually caught but never gave up fighting and ended up finishing third on the stage. Rijnbeek also ended the week fourth overall, a very solid result that is bound to get some interest from the bigger teams despite the fact that she is signed with her current team through 2027. <\/p>\n
The fourth stage was a real blast from the past, with circuits of the Col du Vam. The climb was a major part of the now-cancelled Ronde van Drenthe, a race that used to be one of the bigger Classics on the women’s calendar. <\/p>\n
Sandrine Tas’ stage 1 victory was an exciting one. The ex-speed skater outsprinted Charlotte Kool, who walked away from the week without a victory. Tas is still finding her way in the peloton with Lotto Intermarch\u00e9, but she is doing it at a rapid pace and I, for one, am very excited to see how she does in the Classics next year.<\/p>\n
A couple more riders worth a shout-out: Letizia Borghesi (AG Insurance-Soudal) took the win she’s been hunting for years. It wasn’t at the level she wanted, but it opens the door for more victories in the future, hopefully. <\/p>\n
Marthe Truyen (Fenix-Premier Tech) also took a win, the second of her career. Truyen was part of a late move in the final stage and outsprinted Scarlett Souren for the result. Unfortunately, that meant that Kool didn’t get a chance to take the stage (she finished third, first of the remaining peloton), but the Kool was thrilled for her teammate, and their celebrations were great to see. <\/p>\n
Nienke Vinke had a great time trial on stage 2 to finish second behind Nooijen, and Pfeiffer Georgi looked like there was a fire under her rear wheel, especially during the fourth stage where she took second behind Borghesi. It will be awesome to see the British rider in a new team next year and hopefully back at that top level. <\/p>\n
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