“It felt like I only had the final three pedal strokes” – Olav Kooij denied again on Stage 12 sprint at 2026 Tour de France
CyclingThursday, 16 July 2026 at 18:34
Olav Kooij already has the Tour de France stage victory he came to France seeking. Over the past two days, however, a second win has twice remained agonisingly beyond his reach.
The Decathlon CMA CGM Team sprinter followed Wednesday’s runner-up finish behind Soren Waerenskjold with another second place on stage 12, this time finishing behind Tim Merlier after being trapped at the moment the sprint opened in Chalon-sur-Saone.
Kooij eventually found enough room to accelerate past Jasper Philipsen and the remaining contenders, but Merlier was already on his way to a third victory of the race.
“It didn’t come straight away, so I had to wait until I could really go full gas,” Kooij told NOS. “It felt like I only had the final three pedal strokes.”
From Tour breakthrough to consecutive near-misses
Kooij had already removed the pressure of pursuing a maiden Tour de France victory when he won the stage 5 bunch sprint in Pau. That success confirmed the 24-year-old as one of the fastest riders at his debut Tour and gave Decathlon CMA CGM Team its first victory of the race. His recent results suggest the form has not disappeared, even if two very different finales have prevented him from winning again.
Waerenskjold surprised the established sprinters with an early launch on stage 11 and held Kooij off at the line. In Chalon-sur-Saone, the Dutchman instead found himself losing places when Alpecin-Premier Tech swept forward on the left after the final two corners.
“I think we went into the final two corners in a good position,” Kooij said. “After that, nobody was really able to stretch things out into a line. In the end, I think Alpecin timed it quite well. They came past with speed on the left, and Cees [Bol] and I lost a few positions there.”
Kooij tried to repair the damage with an effort around 500 metres from the finish. The move returned him towards the front but left him without an immediate path through the riders ahead. “I ended up boxed in a little and had to wait until I really had space,” he explained. “By then, it was too late.”
When the opening finally appeared, Kooij produced one of the fastest finishes in the group. He crossed the line behind only Merlier, recording his third top-two result in the space of eight stages.
A second victory becomes harder to find
Kooij’s consistency has arrived just as the Tour begins moving away from the terrain that gives the pure sprinters their clearest opportunities.
Stage 12 was the final obvious bunch-sprint stage before a demanding weekend and the entry into the second half of the race. Stages 17 and 21 could still bring Kooij back into contention, although neither is guaranteed to remain controlled enough for a conventional sprint. “In the third week, it is always different,” he said. “It will be difficult to turn either of those stages into a real sprint, but we are going to try.”
The growing fatigue inside the peloton was already visible on the road to Chalon-sur-Saone. Lidl-Trek repeatedly attacked during the final 40 kilometres, while several teams attempted to exploit a stage that had become less orderly than the sprinters might have wanted.
“You could feel it a little in the peloton,” Kooij said. “There was some fatigue, and teams felt they might be able to force something. We sensed that was coming. I think we reacted well to it. I never had the feeling that we had completely lost control.”
Kooij’s stage 5 victory means his first Tour is already a successful one. Consecutive second places have nevertheless left him with the sense that another win was available, first through a sprint launched too early to catch and then through a gap that opened three pedal strokes too late.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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