Olav Kooij sprints to victory in messy finale to opening stage of the 4 Jours de Dunkerque

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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