{"id":188863,"date":"2022-03-29T13:33:20","date_gmt":"2022-03-29T13:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=188863"},"modified":"2022-03-29T13:33:20","modified_gmt":"2022-03-29T13:33:20","slug":"into-the-wind-the-story-of-the-dutch-headwind-time-trial-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2022\/03\/29\/into-the-wind-the-story-of-the-dutch-headwind-time-trial-championships\/","title":{"rendered":"Into the Wind: The Story of the Dutch Headwind Time Trial Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Ask yourself, what is the most brutal race in cycling? The Tour de France? Paris-Roubaix? Maybe Race Across America? Well, for brutality per kilometre, look no further than the Dutch Headwind Time Trial Championships. This annual race, now in its seventh year, is an 8.5-kilometre time trial along a storm-surge barrier in Oosterscheldekering, southern Netherlands. The course is very simple \u2013 a straight line into one of the strongest headwinds in Europe.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The race was started by Robrecht Stoekenbroek in 2013 and it has gone from strength to strength each year, picking up sponsors Eneco and Gazelle along the way. But don\u2019t think that this race is just a gimmick \u2013 it is serious. Along with storm-resistant seating for spectators and a designated vomit zone, this race takes place on the predicted \u2018worst weather day\u2019 of the year, meaning riders have to be ready to race at very short notice \u2013 three days before an impending storm.<\/p>\n<p>This year, the race took place just before Storm Eunice that ripped across Europe but conditions were no less brutal. Wind speeds were rated at 7 out of 10 (code yellow) \u2013 one point lower than the 2020 race, which had to be abandoned due to dangerous conditions. It\u2019s certainly not a summer breeze the riders are dealing with.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-controller-wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"nl\" dir=\"ltr\">Check hier de aftermats van de bruutste editie van het <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Eneco?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Eneco<\/a> NK Tegenwindfietsen ooit! \ud83c\udf27\ud83d\udca8\ud83d\udeb4\ud83c\udffc\u200d\u2642\ufe0f\ud83d\ude31<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/nktegenwindfietsen?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#nktegenwindfietsen<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/matseditie?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#matseditie<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IAR5EPtLmx\">pic.twitter.com\/IAR5EPtLmx<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NK Tegenwindfietsen (@NKTegenwind) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NKTegenwind\/status\/1490628812501139461?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 7, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async data-src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p>Normally, in a time trial, cyclists use aerodynamics to their advantage, honing their craft in a wind tunnel \u2013 which is probably the literal feeling of this race \u2013 to find the perfect position so they can cut through the air in the most efficient way. However, in NK Tegenwindfietsen, this is not only impossible but frowned upon. The organisers give each rider an identically specced bike, a single-speed aluminium Gazelle city bike, which does include a brake but it\u2019s fair to say no one needs that.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the three-day notice, the race is limited to 300 competitors per year, each setting off in 30-second intervals. The \u2018quickest\u2019 time was set in 2013, the inaugural edition, by Bart Brentjens. His time of 17 minutes and 51 seconds is relative, though, as wind speed, not time, is king in this race. On this exposed section of the barrier, wind speeds during the race can gust to 120 kilometres per hour, which has the ability to sweep you off your feet. For the cyclists, it means giving your all to go pretty much nowhere. In this year\u2019s event won by Jurjun van der Velde in a time of 20 minutes and 23 seconds, he averaged an impressive speed of 25.21 km\/h over the 8.5-km course. Factoring in that this is on a city bike and the wind is biting at you for the whole journey, this is a staggering time.<\/p>\n<p>In the women\u2019s event, Lisa Scheenaard could be considered the Marianne Vos of this very niche discipline, winning the last three editions. And she is unrivalled, winning by nearly 5 minutes in this year\u2019s race.<\/p>\n<p>So, why do it? Why put yourself through roughly 30 minutes of torture? Stoekenbroek told <a href=\"https:\/\/then24.com\/2022\/02\/06\/leiden-student-jurjun-25-wins-beastly-edition-of-the-nk-headwind-cycling-wind-gusts-of-80-km-per-hour\/\">THEN24<\/a>: &#8220;This edition sold out faster than ever, within three hours. I think it is a kind of therapy for the Netherlands after two corona years.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And maybe that is it? It is something of an escape where it is you vs the wind for 30 minutes, where nothing else matters and you battle the elements to see who is better. For a country built upon that very thought, perhaps there is no better place for this to flourish than the Netherlands. It is a country reclaiming itself from the sea with ingenuity and tenacity. You may not need those when riding this race but you certainly need some Dutch courage.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to find out more about the race, follow them on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NKTegenwind\">Twitter<\/a>, and if you want to take part in 2023, you\u2019ll have to be quick and near to the Netherlands. But if you want to take part, you won\u2019t regret it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ask yourself, what is the most brutal race in cycling? The Tour de France? Paris-Roubaix? Maybe Race Across America? Well, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":188866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[6214,6211,6215,6213,3136,6212],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-188863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-road-cycling","tag-bart-brentjens","tag-dutch-headwind-time-trial-championships","tag-jurjun-van-der-velde","tag-lisa-scheenaard","tag-marianne-vos","tag-robrecht-stoekenbroek","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Into the Wind: The Story of the Dutch Headwind Time Trial Championships<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ask yourself, what is the most brutal race in cycling? The Tour de France? Paris-Roubaix? 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