Huub Artz set the fastest time of the day in Laren and did not surrender it. Huub Artz stopped the clock at 40:29.26 over 35.8 kilometres to take his first elite national title in the individual time trial at the 2026 Dutch Road Championships. Dylan van Baarle finished 31 seconds back. Sjoerd Bax took third.
The day belonged to the heat as much as the racing. In a boiling-hot Laren, the riders only set off after 7pm because of a code-orange heat warning . The race was shifted to a later afternoon to avoid the alarmingly warm mid-afternoon temperatures, which reached 35°C in Laren, in the Achterhoek region of eastern Netherlands. Artz of Lotto Intermarche started among the favourites' shadows and rode through them.
How it was decided
Van Baarle set the early standard. After five kilometres, he recorded the fastest time at the first intermediate checkpoint. Enzo Leijnse and Sjoerd Bax followed at six and nine seconds respectively behind Van Baarle. At that point, there was no sign yet of Huub Artz, but appearances can be deceiving. His measured opening masked the strongest ride of the evening.
From the middle of the course the balance tilted. From there, the times kept coming in faster and faster until Artz crossed the line with the fastest time of the day at 40:29.26 to secure the national title. Under scorching temperatures, Artz crossed the finish line with the fastest time of the day, 40:29.26, beating runner-up Dylan van Baarle by 31 seconds and third-placed Sjoerd Bax by 58 seconds. That gap held, and so Artz became the Dutch time-trial champion.
The road to the title
The victory reads as the reward for a deliberate project rather than a sudden leap. Artz arrived at these championships knowing he could contend, having placed fourth the previous year. What changed was mechanical and physical, a bet placed on his own body against the clock. Huub Artz secured his first elite national title in the individual time trial at the Dutch Road Championships on Wednesday.
He explained the calculation plainly afterwards. Before the start, Dylan van Baarle seemed the biggest favorite for the title, but it was Huub Artz who managed to crown himself Dutch time trial champion in a scorching hot Laren.
I knew a podium finish was possible after my fourth place last year. Over the last year and a half, I changed some things about my position and took quite a gamble with that, but it all paid off.
That the man he beat is a former Paris-Roubaix winner lends the margin its weight. Van Baarle brought the reputation. Artz brought the time.
One evening in the Achterhoek, the quiet rider became the fastest Dutchman against the clock.
