Dutch Headwind Cycling Championships took place again two years later

It is one of the most unusual events in cycling and after Covid-19 made it unsafe to run the event in 2021, it came back this year to allow a variety of riders to experience one of the most brutal yet dazzling races they will ever do.

Outside of the Netherlands there aren't many people who are aware of it, but almost every year there is an event run on the Oosterscheldekering, a  storm surge barrier that was built to prevent flooding in the country. Creativity took hold though and in 2013 this 8.5-kilometer long barrier started being used in the Dutch Headwind Cycling Championships and the name is exactly what the race is, a time-trial straight into some of the strongest headwinds a cyclist can face.

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This event is usually a last-minute decision which is part of it's essence, only in the upcoming days to the event is it scheduled when severe winds are in the forecast and in the right direction. And if racing into a fierce block headwind of 80 Km/h isn't already hard enough, all competitors must do it in an upright single-speed bike where aerodynamics are far from any priority.

The event was won by Jurjun van der Velde, a 25-year old drug research student from Leiden, whilst in the women's side Eindhoven's Lisa Scheenaard took the win. Van der Velde's time was of 20:22 making for an average speed of around 25Km/h.