Kooij and Grégoire deliver: "When I saw Visma | Lease a Bike, I was more confident"

“It’s fantastic to be able to finish this week in such a way,” Kooij said after his victory in the final stage. “The first three days were already very special. That gave us a lot of confidence. Today we made sure, as a team, to end this Tour of Britain in the best possible way.”

“We left it up to the GC riders to close the gap today. They still had something to fight for on the road. In the finale, we put everything on the stage win as a team. It was just enough. It really came down to the wire, but I’m happy we managed to finish off all the hard work of the team like this,” said Kooij.

Grégoire was still under a lot of pressure from Remco Evenepoel, among others. "It was also a tactical stage in a way. To be honest, I didn’t sleep well last night. There were a lot of riders close to me in the general classification, so we had to manage it well. That’s what we did perfectly as a team. I was a bit nervous because I knew I could win, but I could also finish tenth tonight.”

"It wasn’t easy on the climb, but I was quite confident, I had good legs, and I was able to follow the attacks. The descent wasn’t easy either. RRemco attacked, it wasn’t a fun moment, but I managed to catch him. With 10 or 15 riders, it would have been really dangerous for me at the finish, but when sprinters like Kooij and Watson came back, it was easier to manage."

‘When I saw Visma-Lease a Bike leading out in the last two kilometres, I was more confident,’ said the Frenchman. “I’m really happy with this victory, for me and for the team. It’s incredible to win a GC in a race like this. It’s quite rare in a career. And then winning in front of Remco and Julian makes the victory even sweeter. I just enjoy the moment.”

“It was the first race of a big block, so starting with a victory like this will obviously give me a lot of confidence,” said Grégoire, who we may also need to keep an eye on at the World Championships in Rwanda.