“I will give it my all to get a stage win” – Olav Kooij Read the article about Olav’s Giro d'Italia debut on our website now!⬇️
"I see around six to seven chances for myself" - Olav Kooij eyes sprint wins on hotly-anticipated Grand Tour debut at Giro d'Italia
CyclingThursday, 02 May 2024 at 14:30
With 32 wins already on his palmares, Team Visma | Lease a Bike's sprinting prodigy Olav Kooij will finally get a chance to showcase himself in a Grand Tour over the next few weeks, after getting the nod for the 2024 Giro d'Italia.
"So far, everything is going well. I took a rest after the spring classics and then slowly built back up towards the Giro. That has definitely helped me," said Kooij in an official press release by Team Visma | Lease a Bike. "I see around six to seven chances for myself. If I look very optimistically maybe even eight. It is a very nice and strong field of participants. It won't be easy, but I believe I can beat them. My stage victory in the UAE Tour is a nice proof of that."
Having long been considered a sprint star of the future, Kooij has stepped up a level in the last couple of seasons, proving himself one of the fastest in the entire peloton. Already this year, the 22-year-old Dutchman has four wins under his belt including two stages of Paris-Nice. Although Wout van Aert won't be on hand to offer a superstar leadout due to his recent crash, European Champion Christophe Laporte is a more than capable replacement.
"It is of course incredibly frustrating that he cannot be there. Both for him, for me and the team. We were looking forward to this moment and had made a goal out of this Giro. But is is what it is," says Kooij of van Aert's absence. "Christophe is an experienced rider who knows what to do. Someone you can absolutely count on. We have already achieved great results together."
Given his success over the last couple of seasons, the fact Kooij hadn't had his shot at a Grand Tour led to some rumours of a transfer exit. Having signed an extension to his Team Visma | Lease a Bike contract though, Kooij is now ready to make the most of this opportunity given to him.
"Great that I can start at the Giro with this team. I have always felt very good here and together we have already shown some great things. Year after year, I can take big steps here in all aspects of the sport," he concludes. "I knew this year's Giro would be my first grand tour and I am looking forward to it immensely."
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- Exactly who, Joey, is "they"? Flimsy, illogical conspiracy theories aside, it is in no one's interest (financial or otherwise) to "drive away small local events." Major cultural and macroeconomic factors are reducing ridership, but there is no "they" in this context.verve82520-12-2024
- And our virtual platforms allow us to "ride" famous place that we can't get to in person, which is a pretty fabulous aspect of this weird weird sport.RidesHills19-12-2024
- Which off-season are you referring to? The one after he won the Tour of California? The one after he won 3 stages and was on the podium of the Vuelta? The one after TJV screwed up, never put him away, and lost the Tour on the time trial? We've seen the guy hit the wall, lose energy, nearly fail, and lose races ("I'm dead") more than once. He's got a visible threshold and his fueling regimen is a clear weak spot. You'll need more detail to make this more than under defined insinuations .RidesHills19-12-2024
- Interesting analysis. And yet, I'm in the US, and at a recent wedding reception as a group of us older folks had to stand at a certain place to keep track of a thing, we got to talking, and every single one of us had a favorite rider, a favorite circuit of races, a moment when we fell in love with the sport, and a joy in the complexities of it all. None of us knew about the other's fandom until that moment. It's wonderful that these are my brothers-in-law, and we now know to talk about this when the spouses aren't listening. Point being: there are fans all over, and for US folks, the loss of GCN+ has been huge. As so often, it's the media bottleneck that matters more than anything else. Look at F1 in the US before Netflix, as an example.RidesHills19-12-2024
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- And it’s likely going to get worse. They are going all-out to drive away small local events which are where a lot of new riders come from. They want fee income and Olympic medals. That’s all.JoeyB19-12-2024
- Oh Lordspock12319-12-2024
- Interesting suggestion, fo you think testing Tadej’s (or Bolts’ or so many others’) parents would have given us a preview of his potential then or what criteria do you have to pick parents with?Mistermaumau19-12-2024
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- I think it’s pretty obvious what was responsible for destroying interest that used to be there.Mistermaumau19-12-2024