Ethan Hayter won the prologue of the NIBC Tour of Holland. The Brit from Soudal Quick-Step was just a fraction of a second faster than the surprising Cameron Rogers.
On Tuesday evening, the very first NIBC Tour of Holland kicked off with a prologue in The Hague. In the iconic Zuiderpark, which was laid out in the 1920s and is now a beloved park among locals, the riders first cycled one kilometer north through the park, followed by a two-kilometer loop heading northwest. Finally, they returned to the finish on the same road as the first kilometer.
Before the start, we could list several contenders, with Dutch favorites like Nils Eekhoff, Olav Kooij, Danny van Poppel, Cees Bol, and Huub Artz, but also strong foreign time trialists such as Tim Torn Teutenberg, Ethan Hayter, Jakob Söderqvist, Christophe Laporte, and Lukáš Kubiš. Predicting a winner proved not so straightforward, which only added to the suspense.
Deceptive conditions
Stijn Daemen had the honor of kicking off the prologue and the NIBC Tour of Holland at 7:00 PM, but the Dutchman from VolkerWessels was nowhere near the victory. The riders had to tackle the prologue under tricky conditions, as the rain from the previous hours left the road surface wet and therefore slippery.
🚴🇳🇱 | Lights out, spotlight on, pedal to the metal! The Tour of Holland is back and starts in The Hague with a 4-kilometer prologue! 👌🎬 #TourofHolland
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— Eurosport Nederland (@Eurosport_NL) October 14, 2025
Eekhoff contends for victory
The first starters struggled to beat Daemen’s time, but it wasn’t long before his 4 minutes 49 seconds was removed from the leaderboard. Tom Crabbé was the first to set a time of 4 minutes 46 seconds, but then Arnaud De Lie (4'40''), the surprising Ivan Smirnov (4'36''), Olav Kooij (4'33'') and Nils Eekhoff (4'32'') raised the bar even higher. With his sharp time, Eekhoff—already considered one of the favorites before the start—made a strong bid for the stage win.
The strong rider from Picnic PostNL could not yet count himself a winner, knowing that many riders were still to come. Among them was Alec Segaert, a pure time-trial specialist who naturally had ambitions for this prologue. The Lotto rider came close to Eekhoff’s top time but had to concede narrowly at the finish (4'33'') to the Dutchman.
Australian surprise in The Hague
While Segaert fell short by about two seconds, Cameron Rogers did manage to beat Eekhoff’s time. And by a wide margin! The only 20-year-old nephew of former pro and time trial ace Michael Rogers—who normally rides for Lidl-Trek’s development team—was a full five seconds faster and reached out for the stage victory. The remaining prologue specialists had to draw from a very different bucket suddenly.
20-year-old Cameron Rogers in action – photo: fotopersburo Cor Vos
Someone like Christophe Laporte indeed managed to do just that, but despite an excellent prologue, the Frenchman was still slower than the very young Rogers. The Australian soon saw from the hot seat how his teammate Daan Hoole had to concede time. The hope for the 20-year-old strong rider began to grow, as the number of remaining favorites still to start rapidly diminished.
Danger from within the team
Among the favorites yet to come, many failed to come close to Rogers’ time. Cees Bol and Yves Lampaert both struck out against the Lidl-Trek rider’s time. Not long after, though, the man in the hot seat started to sweat. That was due to a fast time from a teammate: Jakob Söderqvist had to concede less than a second at the finish to his Australian colleague.
Söderqvist came very close to his teammate’s time – photo: fotopersburo Cor Vos
Dark horses like Huub Artz (2'77") and Lukas Kubis also had to acknowledge Rogers’ top time, so attention turned to the last contenders. With Ethan Hayter, Tim Torn Teutenberg and Danny van Poppel still to start, there was still a chance to shake up the fight for the day’s podium. That proved to be true, as the first-named Brit was narrowly faster than the unlucky Australian at the finish (0'33"). Teutenberg and Van Poppel would not threaten Hayter’s position anymore.
NIBC Tour of Holland| Rank | Rider | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 04:26 | |
| 2 | " | |
| 3 | " | |
| 4 | + 03 | |
| 5 | " | |
| 6 | + 05 | |
| 7 | + 06 | |
| 8 | " | |
| 9 | " | |
| 10 | " |
NIBC Tour of Holland| Rank | Rider | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | - | 04:26 | |
| 2 | - | " | |
| 3 | - | + 01 | |
| 4 | - | + 03 | |
| 5 | - | " | |
| 6 | - | + 05 | |
| 7 | - | + 06 | |
| 8 | - | " | |
| 9 | - | + 07 | |
| 10 | - | " |
