Olav Kooij comes close to winning the opening stage of Tour de Pologne: "I lost momentum in the last corner"
Cycling
With more than a week left until the World Cycling Championships in Glasgow, Olav Kooij threw himself in a very slippery bunch sprint in the Tour of Poland. The wet conditions were no reason not to sprint for the Jumbo-Visma sprinter.
"You know that on a car track it gets very slippery in the rain. You felt it slipping every now and then, so I'm glad I stayed straight," Kooij looks back on the final in Poznan in an interview with WielerFlits. "We turned well on the track and because it was so slippery you could hold position for a long time. We were reasonably safe, but sometimes you are on the edge in the corners."
The preparation for the sprint went well, according to Kooij. "We were well together, but I didn't get out of the last corner well. I lost momentum there and couldn't make up enough on Merlier to win."
"The legs felt good otherwise. We can take that with us to the coming days," said Kooij, who indicated before the stage that he would leave the Tour of Poland on Wednesday. He will miss the last two stages in order to travel to the upcoming World Cup in Glasgow earlier.
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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