photo credits @ Paris-Nice
Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) sprinted to victory in stage 5 of Paris-Nice in Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux today, fending-off Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), who was the first to launch his sprint, to claimed the day’s honors.
Meanwhile, Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) finished third to grab the last spot on the podium.
“It’s nice. I won a few races last year, but this is definitely the nicest so far,” Kooij said. “I was a bit far back under the flamme rouge, and I took the left side of the roundabout, which was a good choice. I was in a good position. Edoardo Affini flew by, and I was on the Pedersen’s wheel, and this time I was able to get out of his wheel.“
“Coming close and finishing second is not bad, but the victories are the ones that count, so I’m really happy to take the win today,” the Dutch rider added.
Race Highlights
The final few hundred meters were the only moments of drama in today’s 212.4 kilometer stage from Symphorien-sur-Coise – Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux.
For a moment it looked like the sprinters might be denied a final opportunity as Ben Swift launched himself off the front of the peloton as it came around a roundabout with just 1km to go.
Pedersen may have come second on the day but he did enough to take the lead of the green jersey competition by right, today he had been wearing the jersey but overall leader Tadej Pogačar actually held it by right.
In the general classification Pogačar saw his lead cut to six seconds after Davide Gaudu, sat second on GC, took the six seconds at the intermediate sprint and Pogačar came third to get two seconds.
After the stage the Slovenian rider said, “the tension was rising before the climb. I did a bit of a mistake, I tried to pass on the right but there was no space, only two [seconds] today.”
Earlier in the stage, TotalEnergies’ Sandy Dujardin made a lone breakaway. But, the ambitious French rider a eventually reeled in 88 kilometers to go.
From there, the peloton remained intact for the remainder of the day.
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