Lelystad used to be the bottom of the Zuiderzee, a shallow bay of the North Sea. The city was build in the 1960s on reclamed land. It lies 3 metres below sea level, so small wonder the route is flat.
Except for two U-turn in quick succession after 3.5 kilometres the route is rather straightforward, so breakneck speeds are to be expected.
The ITT on last year’s BinckBank Tour – the predecessor of the Benelux Tour – was much hillier. It was played out in Belgium and Søren Kragh Andersen powered to the win, ahead of Stefan Küng and Stefan Bissegger.
Filippo Ganna took the win in the last flat BinckBank/Benelux Tour time trial. In 2019, the current World Champion bested Edoardo Affini and Jos van Emden.
Another interesting read: results 2nd stage 2021 Benelux Tour.
Benelux Tour 2021 – stage 2: routes, profiles, more
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