Olav Kooij emerged victorious for Jumbo-Visma in an incredibly messy bunch sprint finale to stage 1 of the 4 Jours de Dunkerque.
The first day of racing is simultaneously the biggest one, with over 200 kilometres in distance from the city of Dunkerque to Abbeville, with rolling terrain but one which should not stop a bunch sprint from taking place.
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With a five-rider group riding clear towards the start of the stage, Mathis Le Berre, Alex Colman, Kenny Molly, Damien Girard and Maël Guégan all harboured hopes of surprising the bunch and taking a breakaway victory.
Never being allowed much leeway however, the breakaway only had a 50-second advantage with 50km to go.
With 10km to go though a time gap remained, with the leaders ahead of the peloton by just 24 seconds.
Their day out was finally brought to an end though with 6.4km to go as the sprint trains began to take control at the front of the race.
In the final kilometre, it was a battle between Lotto Dstny and Intermarche - Circus - Wanty at the front. A big crash though saw Arnaud De Lie go down in the final few hundred metres. In the end, Olav Kooij powered his way to victory for Jumbo-Visma.
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- I had no idea about that either.
santiagobenites10-11-2026 - great analysis thanks! appreciate you posting this. I didn't realize CX had a different standard for deviation. this is even more egregious it seems.mij10-11-2026
- As he isn't currently with Red Bull, I guess if he want to race for one more year he needs to find a team. He's 37 so this will be his last year I would guess, unless he wants to race for almost nothing like Froome did.awp10-11-2026
- I think some are making much ado about nothing. Even though Jonas is getting older, before his crash in the Tour, he looked like a solid 2nd all the way home. No one can really climb with Tadej until this year, Eric Mas showed himself which I think was a one off year for him and Paul Seixas has been able to be pretty close to him. Whatever stage race Jonas enters as long as Tadej is not there he is a favorite to win.awp10-11-2026
- Giro or not Giro, he won't win the Tour!MajorPayne10-11-2026
- Very true.awp10-11-2026
- Ciccone had a very strong end of season. Consistently attacking and livening up races. Hope he makes that last leap in progress and starts notching some significant wins. Great rider to watch.Occam10-11-2026
- Me too!!!!!Occam10-11-2026
- they can sign any 100 of top riders today but Pogi will win over Remco any time at the TDF unless something goes wrongabstractengineer10-11-2026
- the time for a GC rider to retire is when they cannot win stages, or have a significant level drop like from winner/podium into top 5/10 consistently. Roglic is still competitive and Froome raced even though he became pack fodder.abstractengineer10-11-2026
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