Tour de Pologne win "tastes extra sweet" for Olav Kooij

Jumbo-Visma have taken no time to get back to their winning ways as Olav Kooij took the first step of today's Tour de Pologne stage, the first win of the race and the yellow jersey.

“It always gives a great feeling when you push your wheel over the finish line first”, Kooij said in a post-race interview. “Last year I came close to winning this race, but narrowly ended up in second place. It tastes extra sweet that I will take the win this year". The first stage had a hard finale with a crash involved, however Jumbo-Visma managed to form a strong leadout that went on to win on the day.

With the leadout from Tosh van der Sande and Mike Teunissen, Kooij was delivered into the final straight in prime position. He held off the charge of Phil Bauhaus to take his first win of the race, and seventh stage win of the season.

"It's my first win in a WorldTour race. It is a nice side effect that I can also put on the yellow leader's jersey. The goal in advance was to get at least one stage win. It gives a good feeling that it succeeds directly in the opening stage," he concluded. Kooij will have a second opportunity to hunt a stage win tomorrow in Zamosc.