Olav Kooij has won the fourth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. The Dutch sprinter proved to be the strongest in the finishing straight from a reduced group, after harsh weather conditions and echelons dictated the race all day long.
On paper, the stage profile was not particularly tough, but the conditions certainly made it so. Team Visma | Lease a Bike briefly took control on the second and final climb of the day, but shortly after, echelons turned the race upside down.
At first, things didn’t look good for Team Visma | Lease a Bike, with only Cian Uijtdebroeks in the front group. Simon Yates and Kooij, among others, fought their way back in a second group, gritting their teeth to bridge the gap.
After the regrouping, a short-lived attack by three riders failed to create a surprise, setting up a reduced bunch sprint for the win. Kooij launched his sprint like a jack-in-the-box and held off fellow Dutchmen Rick Pluimers and Mathieu van der Poel. It marked his third victory of the year and the sixth win of the season for his team.
“I gave it my all today”, Kooij said after the finish. “Initially, everything went according to plan. Thanks to the pace set by my teammates, I was able to survive the climbs. Then, on the flat, I got caught off guard by the echelons. In those moments, I was torn between hope and despair—one moment, I thought we would make it back, and the next, I was losing confidence.”
Ultimately, Kooij, Yates, and their companions managed to rejoin the front. “At that point, I switched my mindset. I’m really happy. I had a slight dip in form recently, but now I’m feeling good again. The goal was to win a stage in this race, and we’ve done that. That gives me a lot of confidence”, Kooij said with a smile.
“This was a really tough day”, Uijtdebroeks added. “I felt good on the climbs, but when INEOS started the echelons, it was all hands on deck. I managed to stay up there, and luckily, the other guys made it back. In the end, we even won the stage with Olav. It was total chaos today, but as a team, we had a perfect day.”
