Given Team Visma | Lease a Bike's strong focus in the general classification of Grand Tours over the past couple of years, many of the rival teams came to Kooij with promises of
Tour de France a debut to try and sway him in their favour. "But here I am with the best team in terms of team and performance.," Kooij answered assuredly however.
And in 2024, the
Giro d'Italia is on his calendar for the first three-week stage of his career. "I feel very comfortable here and when my Grand Tour debut came up, the choice was no longer difficult," Kooij says. "Every rider on the team participates in the performance and benefits from it. Riders outside the Grand Tours also develop to the highest possible level in this way. That also counts for me. Of course I don't do the same training as Gesink and Kruijswijk, I have my own approach. But the vision is broadly the same."