"I hope to reward it with a stage win" - Olav Kooij hoping to win in Pologne as he leads Jumbo-Visma's ambitions

Jumbo-Visma, away from the spotlight of the Tour de France and it's major stars now, return to the secondary calendar where they will be chasing stage wins at the Tour de Pologne this week, with it's main card being young talent Olav Kooij.

"It's going very well this season. But that certainly doesn't mean that I am saturated as far as the current calendar year is concerned," Kooij said in a press release from the team anticipating the Polish race. "After the Dutch championships, I deliberately took a short rest period. Subsequently, I prepared myself for the last block of the season. This period now lasted long enough. I feel like racing and can't wait to get involved in the battle for the day's victories".

Kooij, just 20 years old, is in his second year with the team and has become a world-class sprinter in the meantime, having taken six stage wins aswell as two overall classifications - at the Circuit Cycliste Sarthe and the ZLM Tour - in the meanwhile. He's having his freedom in the Dutch team, away from it's main blocks, and will be looking to add to his tally this week as he will face the likes of Arnaud Démare and Mark Cavendish in the sprints.

Today's opening stage to Lublin will be a good opportunity, however the sprinter-friendly race will provide several opportunities for the fast men to succed. "I want to go for stage victories in the stages that end in a bunch sprint. I estimate that this applies to three stages. Maybe there will be four, but some stages have a vicious ending," he explained.

"I feel the team has a lot of confidence in me and I hope to reward it with a stage win somewhere in the coming stages. The Tour of Poland will be successful for me if I succeed at that," he concluded.