Olav Kooij had to haul himself up in Paris-Nice, Matteo Jorgensen gives a shoutout to the Van Dijke brothers

Olav Kooij won a hectic opening stage in Paris-Nice on Sunday afternoon. The Dutch sprinter from Visma | Lease a Bike prevailed after a crash-laden stage around Les Mureaux in a tight sprint against Mads Pedersen.

"We knew it was going to be a tough stage," Kooij reacted afterwards. "I really had to struggle to get myself up there. The team not only kept me in position on the climbs but in the end, they placed me well, and we knew that the stage would end in a sprint.

The finale was perfect for Mads Pedersen, and it's really great to beat him. It was close again, and I was watching the wheels closely, and now I just felt that I would make it. Especially after my victory last year, I am glad that I have come back here this year.'

Kooij also gets an extra bonus on top: the yellow leader's jersey. "It's really great to wear the yellow leader's jersey, especially for a team like Visma | Lease a Bike and in France, where it's just an iconic jersey. I will definitely do my best in the coming days, and tomorrow there's another chance for the sprinters."

Matteo Jorgensen: "It wasn't my intention to go for the bonus seconds"

During the sprint for the bonus seconds - which was won by Matteo Jorgenson of Visma | Lease a Bike - Evenepoel finished second. And true to his style, Evenepoel wasn’t shy about pushing hard after the sprint. Patrick Lefevere's protégé significantly stretched out the peloton, with Jorgenson, Egan Bernal (who is getting into better shape), and two riders from Lotto-Dstny in his wheel. However, nobody wanted to continue driving the pace with Evenepoel, so the rest of the peloton (or at least, a large part of it) managed to catch up.

"It wasn’t my intention to go for the bonus seconds, but the intermediate sprint was after a sharp turn, which I took in third or fourth position," Jorgensen started in a brief comment afterwards on YouTube. "So I went for it and was actually surprised that I got them. From then on, it was chaotic because Remco wanted to keep going, whereas we had a sprinter ready with Olav. It makes sense, as everyone wants to grab as many seconds as possible. That’s just how Paris-Nice is."

In the end, everything came back together, but I was not part of the lead-out. Shoutout to the Van Dijke brothers (Tim and Mick, ed.), who did brilliant work and kept Olav in a perfect position.'