"Stop & go" for Olav Kooij, who looks for positives in his first Giro d'Italia sprint

Tim Merlier, racing for Soudal Quick-Step, secured the first sprint win of this Giro d'Italia, marking Belgium's first victory in the race. Olav Kooij (Visma | Lease a Bike) was the best-performing Dutch rider today, and he felt reasonably satisfied with his result.

Speaking to Eurosport, the rider from Numansdorp recounted his day. "It was a pretty easy ride until the intermediate sprint, where the peloton split," said Kooij. He ended up in a group of 25 riders that unexpectedly broke away after the sprint. General classification leader Cian Uijtdebroeks initially missed this break, but the situation was later rectified.

"The pace was high in our group, but there wasn't much talking or anything. We just kept up a solid pace, though it was expected that everyone would regroup," the clever Dutch sprinter noted. Fortunately, Uijtdebroeks didn't lose any time, so Visma | Lease a Bike got through the day without any mishaps.

"The race really boiled down to the last few kilometers. I experienced some stop & go. I tried to move left, but there wasn’t much space, so I had to go right," Kooij added. He was following Merlier but didn't have enough speed to truly challenge for the win.

Kooij feeling good after crash

Considering Kooij had a crash on Sunday that left him with a sore knee, finishing sixth was quite an achievement. "I actually felt pretty good, so I'm pleased with that. It's not perfect, but it wasn't too much of an issue. Hopefully, this positive trend will continue in the days ahead."