Olav Kooij happy despite "strange way to take home the victory"

Olav Kooij finished second in the today's stage of ZLM Tour but saw Jakub Mareczko get relegated afterwards, bringing in a second win for the Dutch team in the week.

Mareczko's change of lines in the final sprint cost him the victory, as he almost took down Kooij's teammate Mick van Dijke. . The judges agreed to reinstate Mareczko in the results, relegating him to the bottom of the leading group. Kooij took advantage of this and won the stage, consolidating his lead in the ZLM Tour's GC rankings.

"This is a strange way to take home the victory, Of course, I would have preferred to cross the finish line with my hands in the air. As a team, we were well represented all day. We opened the throttle at the right moment, and then you know you might cause a shift," he said in a post-race interview. His lead took a commanding extension which he will take into the final three stages.

"Fortunately, that worked out well, after which we were left with a nice group. At the last roundabout, we waited too long. When you have dominated the race, you want to finish it off. Unfortunately, that didn't work out, but I did win my second stage here," he concluded.