"I didn’t feel well and I said that the team could join dangerous breakaways" - Olav Kooij surprises himself with scintillating pace at BEMER Cyclassics 2024

The 2024 BEMER Cyclassics brought an all-star list of the biggest names in sprinting to the start line in Hamburg. In the end, it was Team Visma | Lease a Bike's Olav Kooij who proved the quickest of the lot, powering to victory in the final sprint for the line.

“I didn’t know how I would feel today after that crash in the Renewi Tour,” the Dutch sprint star says after pausing his celebrations for his post-race interview. “I took it easy last week to recover as well as possible from that fall, but I did have some doubts.”

With Points Classification winners from the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France, Jonathan Milan and Biniam Girmay, coming second and third respectively, plus the likes of Jasper Philipsen and others a little further down, this must go down as one of the most impressive wins in Kooij's career so far.

"On the way I didn’t feel well and I said that the team could join dangerous breakaways. They kept motivating me to let me sprint. I tried to do that and look at it now. A nice surprise!” Kooij assesses of his triumph. “We turned in a good position for the last two kilometres, that was important. After that I followed the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe train. Alexander Kristoff then came past with speed and made sure I could find a good wheel. After that it was all about pushing and luckily I was able to hold on until the finish.”