"This seemed like a great race to resume competition" - Olav Kooij returns to action and leads Visma at Baloise Belgium Tour
Cycling
For the first time since being forced out of the first Grand Tour of his career through illness, Team Visma | Lease a Bike's Olav Kooij will return to racing at the upcoming Baloise Belgium Tour.
"The goal was to win a stage, so if that succeeds, that's great. I look back on it with a very special feeling," Kooij reflects of his debut Giro d'Italia experience in conversation with Team Visma | Lease a Bike's official website, having the highlight of victory on stage 9 to look back upon. Sadly though, that was the 22-year-old's last action at the Giro as he abandoned on the first rest day. "Yes, that was quite a turnaround. At that point you are no longer preoccupied with the euphoria, but the feeling of illness dominates. It is hard to leave the race when you know there are still some sprint opportunities to come."
Now though, the focus returns to racing for Kooij at the 2024 Baloise Belgium Tour. "This seemed like a great race to resume competition. I'm looking forward to racing again, it's been a while. I'm heading to Belgium with confidence and good spirits," he previews full of optimism. "When you have been out for a while, it is always the question how you are doing. I hope to regain the good feeling and compete for stage wins. This year there are several good sprinters at the start, so that makes it extra nice."
Leading a strong Team Visma | Lease a Bike lineup that also includes Per Strand Hagenes, Edoardo Affini, Mick van Dijke, Tosh Van der Sande, Julien Vermote and Colby Simmons, Kooij can see plenty of opportunity for success in the race. "Per will be our main man (in the GC ed.), but Mick and Edoardo can also do a good time trial. We start with a strong team and look ahead with a lot of ambition," Kooij concludes.
Team Visma | Lease a Bike for 2024 Baloise Belgium Tour:
Olav Kooij
Per Strand Hagenes
Mick van Dijke
Edoardo Affini
Colby Simmons
Julien Vermote
Tosh van der Sande
Per Strand Hagenes
Mick van Dijke
Edoardo Affini
Colby Simmons
Julien Vermote
Tosh van der Sande
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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- Podcast sounds great. Two so called experts stating the f*cking obvious.wrsty04-11-2026
- A mindset that reminds me of Tim Declerq. I loved watching that guy just pound away the kilometers, hours at the front, holding an entire breakaway in check on his own. Bjerg seems like a similar guy. Curling, the team sport.RidesHills04-11-2026
- He will be lol, but he can still win on the climbs hahaawp04-11-2026
- I would love to have his inconsistency. How many wins this year? 2 TdF stages, a WC, a Euro championship, San Sebastian, multiple wins early year. Monument podiums. I'd take it. I don't think he has a chance in the TdF, but he is still amazing.mij04-11-2026
- He's not going to win the TdF. Maybe if they make every single stage a TT he could win. But I still believe Tadej would just sharpen his TT skills and win.mij04-11-2026
- You beat me to it. Should he make a full recovery (likely) and go light early in the year. One, two, three. Don't ask me, I don't give a damn. Should he be on a Feel-Like-He's-Fixin'-to-Die High.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- The deciding factor may be the (TBD) number of (any type of) kilometers without Pogacar.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- Unexplained chronic fatigue is an all too common bitch. The hard to find definitive answer may lie buried in gut mechanisms. A mystery of the deep.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- It's weird to say Evenepoel would be making a "serious mistake by adding the 2027 Giro d'Italia to his calendar, warning that such a decision could even be interpreted as a lack of confidence in his ability to win the Tour de France." It may well be a mistake but with so many commentators (of all sorts) continuously claiming almost everything Remco does as being a mistake, almost nobody should care what the pundits and the disparagers should say. His team may not want him to do the Giro, and that matters. But it's possibly or probably up to Remco to decide and it may not have to be decided on until a month or so ahead of the race. Yes , Remco is inconsistent much like the majority of the best riders but he's enjoying a period of not having been recently injured (or sick). Whatever he does he need not be concerned with critics who will second guess any perceived failure no matter what. I suspect he will have enough other races on his schedule so he won't be considering it. But the worst reason to not race it is because of what some will say - humorous that be.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- I'll say clean sweep all grand tourZamorano04-11-2026
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🔗 📰 Read what Olav has to say about his return in our preview teamvismaleaseabike.com/race-preview/n…
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