ZLM Tour 2023 – Prologue [FULL STAGE – Individual Time Trial]

June 7, 2023

ZLM Tour 2023 – Prologue – Heinkenszand – Heinkenszand : 6,6 km

The ZLM Tour is a five-day stage race held annually in the southern Netherlands and Belgium. Since 2020, the race has been part of the UCI’s second-tier, the ProSeries. The race debuted back in 1987 but up until 1996 it was run as an amateur event. Just from the list of former winners you can guess the kind of terrain that the race encompasses. There are some hills for the riders to negotiate over the four to five days of racing, but the general classification is often decided by gaps in the opening individual time trial/prologue and bonus seconds obtained in the bunch sprints on the flatter stages. Winds blowing in from the North Sea also play a major role in determining the overall winner.

Nils Eekhoff (Team DSM) powered to victory in the prologue of the ZLM Tour in Heinkenszand, defeating teammate Alex Edmondson last year’s overall champion Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) by fractions of a second.

Eekhoff covered the 6.6 kilometre course with a time of 7:27.79, with Edmondson 0.36 seconds slower and Kooij just 0.05 seconds further behind in third.

It was the first professional victory for the 25-year-old.

“I’m really happy to take my first win here,” Eekhoff said. “I went pretty deep and am super happy to win. Going out was a tailwind and superfast. Toward the finish, the headwind made it pretty tough but it worked out pretty well.”

Team DSM stacked the top 10 with Sam Welsford in fifth and Patrick Eddy from the DSM development team in ninth.

Among the starters in the ProSeries five-day stage race is Mark Cavendish (Astana), who is back in action with lead-out man Cees Bol, who finished sixth on the stage.

Results :