🎥 Relegated Moschetti slammed after chaotic finale: "He completely ruined Olav Kooij’s sprint"

Stage six of the 2025 Giro d’Italia will go down as a messy one. After a major crash that did not involve any Visma | Lease a Bike riders, part of the race was neutralized and organizers decided not to award time gaps or points at the finish.

That led to a compact bunch rolling through Naples where the stage ended in a chaotic sprint. Wout van Aert, working as lead-out for Olav Kooij, even found himself solo off the front for a moment. “I had the chance to go with Olav on my wheel. It wasn’t until I got to that Alpecin Deceuninck rider that I realized a gap had opened. I didn’t have the legs to hold it all the way to the line. That wasn’t my best decision. I should have waited a bit longer. I kept pushing but I saw the bunch still had plenty of speed behind me,” Van Aert said after the stage.

He also saw how Kooij got boxed in by Matteo Moschetti, who held his line and forced the Dutch sprinter to brake. “I saw he was completely stuck and couldn’t really sprint. That’s a shame because he never got the chance to fight for the win.”

Kooij confirmed it. “When Wout went with around 800 meters to go I deliberately left a bit of space. At that moment it felt like the right decision. After Wout was caught I saw an opportunity on the inside. It’s the fastest line to the finish and that’s just instinct for a sprinter. But unfortunately I wasn’t the only one thinking that. The gap that had been there closed again. It’s frustrating not to have been able to sprint for the win.”

“I think Olav and Wout made the right decisions in the finale,” said sports director Marc Reef. “Everything has to happen in a split second of course. Unfortunately, Olav never got the chance to sprint in the end. That’s frustrating, especially because we put a lot of energy into this stage today. The result is disappointing, but the way we raced and the feeling among the riders gives us reason to stay optimistic.”

Bobbie Traksel shared his take on Kop over Kop. “Van Aert definitely got the green light to go, but we know the team car’s view is always a bit delayed. I think he made that decision himself. He realized it wasn’t going to work and eventually sat up,” the Dutch analyst explained.

Traksel was clear in his judgment of Moschetti’s move that boxed in Kooij. “Moschetti pushed it to the limit and Kooij had great legs, but he had nowhere to go. He was completely blocked while Groves was already long gone. That corner turns left and Moschetti just dives into the inside. He stuck closer to the barriers than the white line.”

“Moschetti simply didn’t have the legs. So whatever he was trying, it wasn’t going to work. He’s not the same rider we saw at the start of the season. He’s just not in good form right now and he shut the door on someone. Fair is fair, but he completely ruined Kooij’s sprint,” Traksel concluded.