"A perfectly executed lead-out" - Robbie McEwen sees Wout van Aert as the key to Olav Kooij's stage 12 win at the Giro

Everything came up Visma on stage 12 at the 2025 Giro d'Italia as Olav Kooij sprinted to his first stage win at this year's edition of the Italian Grand Tour. As analysed by sprint legend Robbie McEwen post-stage, key to Kooij's win was the work done by Wout van Aert.

"A perfect lead-out by Team Visma | Lease a Bike. Edoardo Affini had done his job, pulling Wout van Aert into position with Olav Kooij right behind him," begins the Australian, himself a 12-time Giro d'Italia stage winner on the post-stage analysis of TNT Sports afterwards. "With a kilometre to go, Van Aert had to take it up quite early. Ben Turner gets dropped off and manages to muscle his way onto Kooij’s wheel, pushing out Kaden Groves in the process. Casper van Uden then comes up on the right and slots in behind Turner, while behind them, it becomes a battle between Groves and Mads Pedersen."

"Van Aert’s lead-out was incredibly long, but crucially, just before the final corner, he eases off, gulps a couple of big breaths, and pauses — those few seconds of recovery gave him enough to load up for his final push, trying to tow Kooij into position," McEwen continues, full of praise for the final turn done by the Belgian superstar in service of his younger teammate.

"Coming out of that final corner, Van Uden was a little off the wheel of Turner but slingshotted out left. Groves, stuck on the inside, never quite made it into Van Uden’s slipstream before he launched his sprint," McEwen concludes. "That opened the door for Kooij — he could size up Van Uden, slip into the draft, rest momentarily, then punch out over the top to take the win. A perfectly executed lead-out from Visma | Lease a Bike and a pure, powerful sprint from Olav Kooij — he finally got the clear space he needed to sprint cleanly to the line and take the stage victory.”