"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."

Hengeveld got off to a flying start and clocked the fastest time at the second, third and fourth intermediate points. De Vries had paced her time trial differently, setting the stage for a nail-biting finish. Hengeveld managed to find another burst of speed and stopped the clock at 45 minutes and twelve seconds after 36 kilometres. De Vries took two seconds longer and had to settle for silver.

"I hadn’t expected to finish second at the Dutch Championships. Given the circumstances, you never know what might happen, and besides, I’m in good form. Of course, in hindsight, you think: where did I lose those two seconds? But Daniek more than deserves it. She worked incredibly hard for me in the Giro, so I’m genuinely happy for her. It’s fantastic that the three of us are on the podium."

Nooijen took the bronze medal. "I started too slowly, which meant I fell short at the end. I started accelerating too late and I’m really gutted about that", said Nooijen, who also finished third last year. "This could have been avoided, but anyway, it’s another learning experience. Despite that, I think it’s brilliant that we’ve come first, second and third. That’s really special."