“Normally, nobody hesitates in a bunch sprint at the Tour de France”: Olav Kooij laments a split-second tactical error that cost him a second stage victory
CyclingThursday, 16 July 2026 at 09:00
Olav Kooij came within inches of claiming his second stage victory at the 2026 Tour de France on stage 11, but the Dutch sprinter admitted that a split-second decision in the closing meters ultimately cost him the win.
Decathlon CMA CGM Team delivered Kooij into an ideal position with a perfectly organized lead-out from Daan Hoole and Cees Bol, but the finale descended into chaos as Soren Waerenskjold launched a surprise move to take victory. Kooij crossed the line in second, while pre-stage favorite Tim Merlier was unable to contest the sprint. Jasper Philipsen completed the podium.
"We were in a really good position," Kooij said in a post-race interview. "Rickaert and Stuyven were at the front, with Cees behind them. It looked perfect."
Olav Kooij on stage 8 of the 2026 Tour de France
A costly hesitation
As Bol took over to launch the sprint, Kooij made the crucial decision not to immediately follow his teammate's wheel. Instead, he expected Jasper Stuyven, who was directly ahead of him, to latch onto Bol's lead-out.
That never happened, as Stuyven's priority was waiting for his own leader, Tim Merlier, who had slipped too far back. "Stuyven was finished," Kooij explained. "And I wasn't directly on Cees' wheel. I let him go for a moment."
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That brief hesitation proved decisive. Bol immediately opened a gap, leaving Kooij with ground to make up as Waerenskjold launched his winning sprint.
"For a moment I thought Cees was going to win because he suddenly had such a big gap. During those three pedal strokes where I stopped pedaling, everything slowed down. Maybe that's where I lost the sprint. Normally, nobody hesitates in a bunch sprint at the Tour de France."
Despite the disappointment, Kooij chose to focus on the positives after another strong team performance. "We did so many things right today," he said. "Unfortunately, it just wasn't enough."
Félix SernaCycling Journalist
Félix Serna is a writer at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2025. He covers professional cycling across both the men’s and women’s calendars, with a focus on UCI rankings, race developments, and rider performance. His work includes interview-based reports, liveblogs, and tournament coverage designed to provide clear, accurate context throughout the season.
In his reporting, Félix regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical reference. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available. He holds a bachelor’s degree in International Studies.
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- Really sad that after what 6 years he is now trying to milk the injury for money. He scammed Israel Prem Tech for millions where he could not even win a UK 4rh cat race. Find it sad that such a great rider reduced to this.paultryan200216-07-2026
- Its known as courtesy not rules, tradition not laws.abstractengineer16-07-2026
- nobody dispute the accident even though it was largely due to him even after Poels had warned him. The problem is sticking to the false narrative that he was capable of winning the tdf for 5 years, the numbers were close etc even when he was getting dropped midway in races , trying to mislead everybodyabstractengineer16-07-2026
- He got lucky with Vuelta, TDF is a blood bath, even Jonas lost 2:30 in a stageabstractengineer16-07-2026
- The unwritten rule is probably to go for the win or not, not in between like UAE did. They pulled hard, keeping it in range, in order to sprint with Torito. Then they switched to the energy saving mode and got Ineos and Lidl-Trek to pull. What that effectively means is that they are helping the peloton against the breakaway without wanting to go for the win themselves, which is unsportsmanly. One theory is that Pogačar would have wanted to follow van der Poel, his eternal rival, but realised it wasn't worth it as he'd drag all the GC riders with him and spend his teammates. So he wanted to let van der Poel know that he could have been present in the fight for the win.
Rafionain-Glas16-07-2026 - There certainly are unwritten rules that should and are respected. However going for the win when when it's a fair fight ain't one of them..IMO. Hope Pog gets the win record, he already gifted one to a his team mate.Santiago16-07-2026
- 😀Hills3316-07-2026
- “There are also unwritten rules that should be respected” - it is a total BS. There is only one rule in cycling - whoever crosses the finish line first -> wins. (or who has lower cumulative time, most points - depending on type of race/tour)averagecyclist16-07-2026
- Chapeau to Wærenskjold. He’s not a big name but has quietly said he turned down the chance to ride for UAE as he didn’t want to promote the Emirates; similarly he declined to take part in the Al Ula Tour.”
Andrew16-07-2026 - Your proctologist called, he found your head.Andrew16-07-2026
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