Relief for Visma | Lease a Bike after crash Kooij, encouraging sign from Tour rider Benoot

The 23-year-old sprint sensation, who had won two stages in the Giro d'Italia, did not have luck on his side on Sunday. Kooij crashed in the final and did not finish the Copenhagen Sprint. Visma | Lease a Bike had come to Denmark to sprint but saw Daniel McLay, their late Plan B, finish only 24th.

The big question after the race was: How is Kooij? “Fortunately, Olav is okay. He did not suffer any serious injuries, just some abrasions. But it was quickly clear that he could not rejoin the peloton to contest the sprint, as the pace was extremely high,” said team director Jesper Mørkøv in a press release.

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Kooij's withdrawal disrupted the plans of the Killer Bees. "I think we rode well as a team all day. Attila (Valter) did a lot of work at the front, and in the finale, Niklas (Behrens) and Loe (Van Belle) kept Olav well-positioned. It is just unfortunate that Olav could not sprint for the victory because of the crash," said Mørkøv.

The team also finished the Tour de Suisse somewhat anonymously. Tiesj Benoot was the best classified in a climb time trial, finishing 27th, three minutes behind winner João Almeida. “Tijmen and Bart wanted to see how far they could go today,” said team leader Maarten Wynants, referring to Tijmen Graat and Bart Lemmen.

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However, Benoot showed the best legs, which was not bad news ahead of the Tour de France. “They really went for it, but unfortunately, a spot within the top 35 was the best they could achieve. Still, it was a good learning experience for them to ride a time trial of this caliber in a race situation,” said Wynants.

The Dutchman saw the team's momentum slowly fade during the week in Switzerland. “We started very well, which put us in a good position in the GC and gave us certain expectations. Unfortunately, later in the week we lost Menno Huising and Steven Kruijswijk. The guys coming from the Giro were really riding on their limit.”

So the signs were good for Benoot. "Tiesj was here mainly with the Tour de France in mind. He came through this test well, despite a crash that left him with some abrasions. Unfortunately, in terms of results, there wasn’t much more in it than what we achieved now." Thanks to stage winner Jorgen Nordhagen in the Giro NextGen, there was cause for celebration on Sunday.