"My win at Paris-Nice was really nice, but the field here is really strong" - Olav Kooij nets his best career victory to date at furious UAE Tour sprint

Olav Kooij had come close to winning at the UAE Tour this week but in stage 5 everything finally clicked together. The Team Visma | Lease a Bike rider has proved his sprinting abilities in the past, and today he's put a massive performance to win ahead of Tim Merlier and Sam Welsford.

"I didn't know so we had to wait a bit but yes after the first few sprints I got better. We need to get everything right to get the win, luckily today I won," Kooij said in a post-race interview. It was another calm day and extremely fast sprint. The Dutchman was in the right place at the right time - the wheel of a Mark Cavendish who started his sprint early - but did not know it at the time.

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"I never hit too much wind with the headwind, all about getting a good position in the last roundabout. I thought I was too far but then I could follow Mark Cavendish on the right, a little gap appeared so I could pass," he explained. On the opposite side of the road was Tim Merlier who had won the previous two bunch sprints, but the 22-year old stamped his authority this time around with the victory.

"My win at Paris-Nice was really nice, but the field here is really strong. Just another win and a really nice one," he says of it. He will race the Giro d'Italia later this year and battle with some of the sprinters he's been racing with over the past few days, asked for comment on the Corsa Rosa at the end he responded: "Really excited to go there and see what I can do there, a good start to the season."

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Jonas Vingegaard wants to study Tadej Pogacar's Giro-Tour double to see how he can succeed in it in the future: "We'll have to wait and see how Tadej does that"

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