Stuck on "Starting connection to server" when performing HTTPS connect request

Hi!

I am having an issue connecting to a certain API using HTTPS. When setting up the connection to the server (using client.connect(server, 443)) it seems stuck for multiple minutes until eventually it returns a “Connection failed!” message.

I have no issues connecting to the WiFi and when I use the demo code to connect to example.com through HTTPS it works.
So I figured it there must be something going wrong for this specific URL but I cannot figure out what exactly.

I am running this simple bit of code based on the HTTPS examples:

#include <rpcWiFi.h>
#include <WiFiClientSecure.h>
 
const char* ssid     = "xxx";     // your network SSID
const char* password = "yyy"; // your network password
 
const char*  server = "api.energyzero.nl";  // Server URL
const char* test_root_ca = \
                            "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\n"
                            "MIIFazCCA1OgAwIBAgIRAIIQz7DSQONZRGPgu2OCiwAwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQELBQAw\n"
                            "TzELMAkGA1UEBhMCVVMxKTAnBgNVBAoTIEludGVybmV0IFNlY3VyaXR5IFJlc2Vh\n"
                            "cmNoIEdyb3VwMRUwEwYDVQQDEwxJU1JHIFJvb3QgWDEwHhcNMTUwNjA0MTEwNDM4\n"
                            "WhcNMzUwNjA0MTEwNDM4WjBPMQswCQYDVQQGEwJVUzEpMCcGA1UEChMgSW50ZXJu\n"
                            "ZXQgU2VjdXJpdHkgUmVzZWFyY2ggR3JvdXAxFTATBgNVBAMTDElTUkcgUm9vdCBY\n"
                            "MTCCAiIwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEBBQADggIPADCCAgoCggIBAK3oJHP0FDfzm54rVygc\n"
                            "h77ct984kIxuPOZXoHj3dcKi/vVqbvYATyjb3miGbESTtrFj/RQSa78f0uoxmyF+\n"
                            "0TM8ukj13Xnfs7j/EvEhmkvBioZxaUpmZmyPfjxwv60pIgbz5MDmgK7iS4+3mX6U\n"
                            "A5/TR5d8mUgjU+g4rk8Kb4Mu0UlXjIB0ttov0DiNewNwIRt18jA8+o+u3dpjq+sW\n"
                            "T8KOEUt+zwvo/7V3LvSye0rgTBIlDHCNAymg4VMk7BPZ7hm/ELNKjD+Jo2FR3qyH\n"
                            "B5T0Y3HsLuJvW5iB4YlcNHlsdu87kGJ55tukmi8mxdAQ4Q7e2RCOFvu396j3x+UC\n"
                            "B5iPNgiV5+I3lg02dZ77DnKxHZu8A/lJBdiB3QW0KtZB6awBdpUKD9jf1b0SHzUv\n"
                            "KBds0pjBqAlkd25HN7rOrFleaJ1/ctaJxQZBKT5ZPt0m9STJEadao0xAH0ahmbWn\n"
                            "OlFuhjuefXKnEgV4We0+UXgVCwOPjdAvBbI+e0ocS3MFEvzG6uBQE3xDk3SzynTn\n"
                            "jh8BCNAw1FtxNrQHusEwMFxIt4I7mKZ9YIqioymCzLq9gwQbooMDQaHWBfEbwrbw\n"
                            "qHyGO0aoSCqI3Haadr8faqU9GY/rOPNk3sgrDQoo//fb4hVC1CLQJ13hef4Y53CI\n"
                            "rU7m2Ys6xt0nUW7/vGT1M0NPAgMBAAGjQjBAMA4GA1UdDwEB/wQEAwIBBjAPBgNV\n"
                            "HRMBAf8EBTADAQH/MB0GA1UdDgQWBBR5tFnme7bl5AFzgAiIyBpY9umbbjANBgkq\n"
                            "hkiG9w0BAQsFAAOCAgEAVR9YqbyyqFDQDLHYGmkgJykIrGF1XIpu+ILlaS/V9lZL\n"
                            "ubhzEFnTIZd+50xx+7LSYK05qAvqFyFWhfFQDlnrzuBZ6brJFe+GnY+EgPbk6ZGQ\n"
                            "3BebYhtF8GaV0nxvwuo77x/Py9auJ/GpsMiu/X1+mvoiBOv/2X/qkSsisRcOj/KK\n"
                            "NFtY2PwByVS5uCbMiogziUwthDyC3+6WVwW6LLv3xLfHTjuCvjHIInNzktHCgKQ5\n"
                            "ORAzI4JMPJ+GslWYHb4phowim57iaztXOoJwTdwJx4nLCgdNbOhdjsnvzqvHu7Ur\n"
                            "TkXWStAmzOVyyghqpZXjFaH3pO3JLF+l+/+sKAIuvtd7u+Nxe5AW0wdeRlN8NwdC\n"
                            "jNPElpzVmbUq4JUagEiuTDkHzsxHpFKVK7q4+63SM1N95R1NbdWhscdCb+ZAJzVc\n"
                            "oyi3B43njTOQ5yOf+1CceWxG1bQVs5ZufpsMljq4Ui0/1lvh+wjChP4kqKOJ2qxq\n"
                            "4RgqsahDYVvTH9w7jXbyLeiNdd8XM2w9U/t7y0Ff/9yi0GE44Za4rF2LN9d11TPA\n"
                            "mRGunUHBcnWEvgJBQl9nJEiU0Zsnvgc/ubhPgXRR4Xq37Z0j4r7g1SgEEzwxA57d\n"
                            "emyPxgcYxn/eR44/KJ4EBs+lVDR3veyJm+kXQ99b21/+jh5Xos1AnX5iItreGCc=\n"
                            "-----END CERTIFICATE-----\n";

WiFiClientSecure client;
 
void setup() {
    //Initialize serial and wait for port to open:
    Serial.begin(115200);
    while(!Serial); // Wait for Serial to be ready
    delay(1000);
 
    Serial.print("Attempting to connect to SSID: ");
    Serial.println(ssid);
    WiFi.begin(ssid, password);
 
    // attempt to connect to Wifi network:
    while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
        Serial.print(".");
        // wait 1 second for re-trying
        delay(1000);
    }
    Serial.print("Connected to ");
    Serial.println(ssid);
 
    client.setCACert(test_root_ca);
 
    Serial.println("\nStarting connection to server...");
    if (!client.connect(server, 443)) {
      Serial.println("Connection failed!");

    } else {
       Serial.println("Connected to server!");        
    }


}
 
void loop() {
    // do nothing
}

Also I am using the latest firmware and libraries as suggested by the network overview article.

Hoping anyone has a clue what is going wrong here.

Thanks!