"He has the potential to become one of the best sprinters in the world" - Wout van Aert impressed by Olav Kooij

Jumbo-Visma has been at the front of the Vuelta a Espana this week but that almost comes up short of how they've been riding at the Tour of Britain. With six consecutive sprint stages the Dutch team has been piling on success after success, after Wout van Aert has been leading Olav Kooij to four wins out of four stages.

"It's also nice to sit back and enjoy the team's performance sometimes. It's really nice to be successful all the time,” van Aert told Cyclingnews. He travelled to Britain with a different role than the one he's used to, and so far it could hardly go any better. “That works well in building a bond. We are building it here, because we haven't raced together that much yet. A few times together in Belgium at most.”

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With Jumbo-Visma having re-signed Kooij, despite the lack of space within a team with so much quality, there was a meaningful trust signal given from both signs. The team opted to try out giving the Dutchman a leadout including Wout van Aert. The competition at the Tour of Britain isn't the strongest, but the duo has succeeded on all four sprints that have taken place so far, seemingly comfortable - and with two more opportunities to come.

Van Aert has been adapting to a possible new role with Kooij, as did Mathieu van der Poel with Jasper Philipsen, and after a few days of sprinting he can visualize better how this could work: “In a grand tour this can work out well, if Olav is our leader in the flat stages. He has the potential to become one of the best sprinters in the world," van Aert states. "I actually think he might be almost there already. He has the speed and will get a much bigger engine in the coming years, given his young age."

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