"Luckily I found a hole" - Olav Kooij wins second Paris-Nice stage with impressive sprint from behind

Olav Kooij is racing the Giro d'Italia this year as a leading sprinter and he will have great chances of winning. If any evidence was still needed, the Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider has won for the second time this week at Paris-Nice against Mads Pedersen.

“It was quite a tough stage. The headwind made it difficult to control a strong leading group. Especially after two riders managed to cross. We had to work all day for it," Kooij said in a post-race interview. "In the final, most teams did not have many riders left to control things, so I had to find my way myself.” After the breakaway was caught and the late attacks controlled, a bunch sprint was to follow. The Dutch sprinter once again had to find his way into the right wheels; a combination of that and a powerful sprint earned him a second win.

"Luckily I found a hole. The win in the opening stage was the perfect start. We made some mistakes in stage two, but today we went for it with the whole team and made a good plan. I am very happy to take my second victory of the week," he details. For him the race is a success already, now the Dutch team focuses on the overall classification.

“For me it has already been a very good week, a great success. But we still have some goals in the weekend with Matteo [Jorgenson] and Wilco [Kelderman]," he tells. "So as a team we are not ready yet, but for now it is a very nice week for us.”