"There was no place for me" - Olav Kooij dreams of Tour de France start, but will he ever get that opportunity with Visma | Lease a Bike?

Olav Kooij might be in his last year with Team Visma | Lease a Bike. Of course it's not more than a speculation, but it's becoming increasingly obvious that the talented Dutch sprinter is becoming worthy of a dedicated sprint train at the races like Tour de France - and it's something he may never receive at his current team. 

But it'd be unfair to say Visma is overlooking the 23-year-old who has already won a Giro d'Italia stage on his Grand Tour debut last year. This year, Kooij should return to Italy. Afterwards, his schedule remains somewhat open to changes with a possibility of adding another three-week race to his plans later. In addition, Visma brought in Dan McLay with the specific mission of leading out the young Dutch sprinter.

"I would also like to do the Vuelta, but that is still far away. However, more will be revealed about that at a later stage, exactly who will ride there," he emphasized in an interview with IDLProCycling.com. "I hadn't said no to the Tour de France, let that be clear. I would have liked to ride the Tour, but when we started talking about the program, it became clear to me that there was no place for me in the team's goals and the way they were formulated," Kooij adds.

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The desire for the Tour also increased as the years progressed for the young Kooij. "I am now getting to a point where that is also becoming an increasingly important factor towards the coming years. That is certainly something to look at, as is how the team wants to give substance to that. So whether I have some place in that does play a role."

He extended his commitment two years ago with Visma | Lease a Bike with hopes to grow respect as one of the team's leaders. He's finally in that position to lead the team as sprinter in the biggest races, but now it's time for his team to pay back Kooij's work with trust. "Last time, I was at a different point than now. Back then, I was still making progress towards that top. I had already won some races, but the absolute top was still far away. I was able to take that step; the situation is different now. Then, you can also set more specific goals. And that includes Tour stages, that's true."

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