It was a podium sweep for trade team Visma-Lease a Bike, with Femke De Vries earning the silver medal, 2 seconds off the best time of 45:12, and Lieke Nooijen taking the bronze, 15 seconds back.
Nooijen edged Loes Adegeest (Lidl-Trek) by just two-10ths of a second for the final medal.
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The last road victory for the 23-year-old Hengeveld came 17 months ago when she won the opening stage of the 2025 Tour Down Under. She was part of the Dutch team that raced to bronze in the Women’s Team Pursuit at the UCI Track World Cup in Malaysia last year.
“Winning the title came as a surprise, although I’d secretly hoped to finish on the podium,” Hengeveld said.
“I tried to prepare for this time trial as well as I possibly could. I scouted the course several times, spent the whole of last week on my time trial bike and rode as hard as I could today. I couldn’t have done any more. I was confident I could do it, so I’m delighted that I was able to prove it today.”
How it unfolded
The start for 42 elite women, divided into two waves, was moved from 15:00 local time to 17:15 to avoid the peak mid-afternoon temperatures, which reached 35°C. The sunny skies made the temperature feel much warmer.
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The afternoon U23 men’s time trial was moved from an afternoon start to late morning, and that course shortened from 36km to 27km. The elite women’s course was unchanged, riders taking on two large laps for 36km in the Achterhoek region of eastern Netherlands.
A flat route took riders through Harfsen for the first time check at km 5.1, then a second time check at km 13.4 on Old Street before passing the finish line on Holterweg in Laren for the first time 4.6km later. The circuit was completed a second time in that order.
In the first wave of starters, Femke Markus (SD Worx-Protime) set the best time at the halfway point of the race against the clock, posting a time of 23:06, 33 seconds faster than her closest competitor, Fee Knaven (UIAE Development).
Once the second wave of competitors had taken the course and punched the clock of the first circuit, eight riders had posted times better than Femke Markus. Seven of them went under the 23-minute mark, with Daniel Hengeveld (Visma-Lease a Bike) the best of the bunch in a time of 22:25.
With under 5km to go and a final time check, Hengeveld’s teammate Femke De Vries posted the best time, heading to the finish with one-10th of a second advantage over Hengeveld, and Loes Adegeest (Lidl-Trek) holding to the third position.
Hengeveld would stop the clock at 45:12, taking the hot seat with eight riders left on the course. De Vries crossed the line four riders later, but her effort was 2 seconds short of overtaking her teammate.
On the final kilometres back into Laren, Lieke Nooijen (Vsima-Lease a Bike) made up a 13-second deficit to third-placed Adegeest, and stopped the clock in 45:27.
There was not enough distance remaining for the favourites and the final two riders on course to make up time. Defending champion Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) would finish eighth, 51 seconds off the mark. Two-time winner Riejanne Markus (Lidl-Trek), who set the best time at the first time check on the day, rode across the line in sixth place, 45 seconds down.
