photo credits @ Tirreno – Adriatico
Olav Kooij sprinted to victory in stage 4 of Tirreno-Adriatico, beating Rick Pluimers (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) during the closing meters in Trasacco today.
“We really fought for it,” Kooij said. “I thought I made it over the climb, because we set the pace there to keep the break close, but on the plateau, we were surprised a bit by echelons. That set us on the back foot. Sometimes I thought we would come back and other times I didn’t really believe any more, but the guys did great work, and once I was back I knew I had to switch on and go for it.
“Getting ill at the UAE Tour was a setback, but I had a good rerstart in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and I was looking forward to this race. I did it once before, but I wanted to win a stage here as well. I’m super happy that after a hard fight today I got it,” added the Dutch rider.
Earlier, a small group of riders containing Jonas Rutsch (Intermarche-Wanty), Jorge Arcas (Movistar Team), Gijs Leemreize (Team PicNic-PostNL), Mirco Maestri (Team Polti-Visit Malta) and William Blume Levy (Uno-X Mobility) formed the day’s first breakway effort, subsequently opening up a maxium advantage of six minutes over the peloton.
In the meantime, the climb of the Valico La Crocetta proved too tough for some sprinters, including Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AlUla), who lost contact with the peloton.
With 79km remaining, crosswinds plagued the field, later causing Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step), Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) and Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) to lose contact with the peloton as well.
Meanwhile, the breakway was still surviving up the road.
With 5 kilometers left, Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) attacked, followed by Van der Poel. From there, Healy launched another attack, quickly making his way to what was left of the day’s breakway group.
But, the leaders were caught during the closing 400 meters, with Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) being the first rider to launch his sprint.
However, the French rider was quickly brought to heel by Van der Poel, Pluimers and Kooij, with the Dutchman emerging victorious in the sprint.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
