The success of #Zomergasten 2026 #1 was to be expected.

On Sunday 26 July 2026, Mathieu van der Poel won the final stage of the Tour de France. He finished half a metre ahead of his pursuers. Afterwards, he said he’d been preparing for this for a week. In reality, it was probably longer, because when the route book for the Tour ’26 came out six months ago, he must have known that the final stage on the Champs-Élysées would be his.

Success can be planned. In fact, success is a given if you plan properly. That is the credo of the 21st century. Failure isn’t bad luck. Failure is the result of poor preparation. That’s what cyclist Remco Evenepoel told his coach the day before, when he finished second on Alpe d’Huez.

Top-class line-up

Mathieu van der Poel recorded his predictable – yet no less magnificent – Tour success a quarter of an hour before the start of the first episode of the Final Season of *Zomergasten*. A season featuring a star-studded line-up of people for whom failure is not an option. That applies to Janine Abbring, who began her six-week odyssey looking remarkably relaxed and ‘in control’; this Sunday, it applied above all to comedian Peter Pannekoek, about whom we now know for certain that he has a maniacal compulsion for control.

Success for this episode was a foregone conclusion; failure would have been a massive disaster, and so it was indeed a success. Even Peter Pannekoek’s tears came – beautifully restrained – at just the right moment (about an hour before the end), and the rascal who’d let a loose cable dangle from the ceiling provided just enough of a coincidence to keep things from getting bogged down. Janine’s little dog, an adorable female who is perfectly trained, had to go for a quick walk to channel the built-up tension – something dogs are perfectly suited to.

Open-ended questions

So there was plenty to criticise about this first episode of the final season of *Zomergasten*, but that certainly doesn’t apply to Janine Abbring’s interviewing skills. She has previously proved herself to be the best ‘Zomergasten’ host and once again managed to keep every question ‘open-ended’, even if that sometimes took some effort. ‘Don’t start your question with an auxiliary verb’ is the rule of thumb, and she corrected herself perfectly in this regard. She also dared to show vulnerability in just the right way and occasionally revealed a little of herself. She also knew full well that Peter Pannekoek wouldn’t be discussing politics or other truly sensitive topics – beyond the level of sensitivity he allows himself in his shows – so she didn’t press the issue.

Should she have done that? Perhaps for the sake of exciting television, because whilst the evening was hugely entertaining, with interesting clips and occasionally fascinating revelations, we still got the feeling that this segment had been so incredibly well prepared by both titans that not even a crashing studio lamp would have thrown them off course. Although even an open door in the studio did its best to add a touch of symbolism.

Admiration

The evening was written in the stars. Yet, just as it was drawing to a close, something small happened that has stayed with me. ‘For you, it’s very much about admiration,’ Abbring tried to sum up the evening, but Pannekoek didn’t agree. ‘It’s about time,’ he said decisively, and they didn’t go into it too deeply together. It was a moment reminiscent of *The Sopranos*. Abbring, who with her smart glasses bears a slight resemblance to that brilliant psychiatrist in the series, and Pannekoek as a hyperactive Tony Soprano, who seeks only confirmation of his brilliant insights from her.

Because ‘time’ – that might have been what it was all about for Pannekoek – but Abbring had rightly observed that, right from the very first sketch about a horribly old-fashioned, romantic Flemish artist, the successful comedian is someone who looks up to people he considers better than himself. And anyone who, in the limited time we’ve been given, happens to cross the finish line a few cobblestones ahead of him is better than him.

After three hours of *Zomergasten*, I found myself longing passionately for a moment of silence, a moment of doubt, a slightly surprised smile at an insight that arose because the guest and the hostess had briefly stepped back from the action. Simply to take a moment to marvel at all the frantic panic that our seemingly inevitable success brings with it.

Appreciate this article!