Jumbo-Visma's
Olav Kooij continues to show himself as one of the most promising sprinters in the peloton, taking the win on stage 4 of the
Tour de Pologne.
A pan-flat day on the fourth day of racing in Poland. There are 850 meters of ascending throughout the day with only a tiny hilltop early in the day to attribute KOM points. Most of the day however is simple in the eastern European plains.
Four riders went up the road, attempted to thwart the sprint trains and spring a surprise, Yevgeniy Gidich (Astana Qazaqstan Team), Sebastian Schönberger (Human Powered Health), Norbert Banaszek (HRE Mazowsze Serce Polski) and Patryk Stosz (Voster ATS Team).
Gidich was the first rider caught, leaving the remaining breakaway trio with 1:00 advantage heading into the final 40km.
With 25km to go, the whole of the break had been swallowed up, leaving the peloton to prepare for the expected sprint finish.
As the peloton reached the final 10 kilometres, there was a fierce battle at the front of the bunch for positioning heading into the final with even Geraint Thomas doing a pull on the front for the INEOS Grenadiers.
Olav Kooij was the first to open his sprint and none of his rivals could come around the Jumbo-Visma sprinter, as he took victory ahead of
Marijn Van den Berg in second.
