Olav Kooij recovering from collarbone fracture in Gent Wevelgem as Giro d’Italia start becomes realistic

Kooij opened his season in style, picking up two stage wins at the Tour of Oman. Illness briefly interrupted his momentum, forcing him to abandon the UAE Tour after just one stage, but he bounced back with a strong second place at Kuurne Brussels Kuurne and a classy stage win at Tirreno Adriatico. He also impressed with eighth place at Milan San Remo.

The Flemish spring, however, did not go as planned for the sprinter. In Classic Brugge De Panne, he crashed deep into the finale and missed the chance to contest the sprint. Five days later, he looked sharp again in Gent Wevelgem, answering an attack by Mads Pedersen (Lidl Trek) on the plugstreets. But on those unpaved roads, Kooij misjudged a corner and went down hard, his grimace saying it all. It quickly became clear he had broken his collarbone.

That diagnosis was confirmed. Kooij was forced to skip Dwars door Vlaanderen and Paris Roubaix but was able to undergo surgery quickly, which allowed him to resume training not long after. As things stand, a start on May 9 in Albania looks realistic. Last year, Kooij already took a stage win at the Giro d’Italia before illness forced him to abandon the race early.

At the Giro, Kooij is expected to line up alongside Wout van Aert, who admitted after the Brabantse Pijl that his sprint legs have not been there this spring. “The sprint just hasn’t been clicking for me so far, and that’s a shame. I’ve lost two races because of it already, and that stings a bit. I’ll need to put extra focus on that heading into the Giro, to find those old sprint legs again. I don’t really have an explanation at the moment, so we’ll definitely be looking into it as a team,” the Belgian explained.

Kooij was also originally scheduled to race Eschborn Frankfurt on May 1, but after his injury, it remains unclear whether he will be on the start line. The organizers released the provisional start list on Wednesday, and his name still appeared alongside teammates Edoardo Affini, Niklas Behrens, Menno Huising, Ben Tulett, Attila Valter and Tosh Van der Sande.