"I was torn between hope and despair" - Olav Kooij stunned to be able to win brutal Tirreno-Adriatico day

Olav Kooij is a sprinter but one who can climb and is used to the spring classics. That gave him the valuable edge today to navigate groups and to somehow be in contention for the stage win at Tirreno-Adriatico. And as it would happen, he turned out to be the fastest surviving sprinter at the end of the day.

“I gave it my all today. Initially, everything went according to plan. Thanks to the pace set by my teammates, I was able to survive the climbs," Kooij said in a press release. "Then, on the flat, I got caught off guard by the echelons. In those moments, I was torn between hope and despair—one moment, I thought we would make it back, and the next, I was losing confidence.”

Before damage was done in the day's climbs, but when INEOS Grenadiers began to split the race in the crosswinds, Kooij was not in the chasing peloton, but instead in a third group led by Derek Gee's Israel and Mikel Landa's Quick-Step.

Perhaps he would've never gotten back, but the Basque climber punctured and his team brough that third group back to the peloton, which also managed to bring back the Ganna/Ayuso group that attacked once the descending ended on the day. Visma didn't have the power to chase, but INEOS volunteered to do all the chasing of the breakaway then, which in itself was only caught with a few meters to go to the finish line. The stars aligned for the Dutchman, who then beat compatriots Rick Pluimers and Mathieu van der Poel in the final sprint.

“At that point, I switched my mindset. I’m really happy. I had a slight dip in form recently, but now I’m feeling good again," he assured, with Milano-Sanremo close in the schedule. "The goal was to win a stage in this race, and we’ve done that. That gives me a lot of confidence".

“This was a really tough day. I felt good on the climbs, but when INEOS started the echelons, it was all hands on deck," Cian Uijtdebroeks added. "I managed to stay up there, and luckily, the other guys made it back. In the end, we even won the stage with Olav. It was total chaos today, but as a team, we had a perfect day.”