‘Stiff’ Kooij gets his revenge after crash in Renewi Tour opener: "The feeling was good enough"

Ironically, that same wind gave him the chance to win: at the finish it was a headwind, which allowed Kooij to surge from behind and blast past his rivals at high speed. “It was a fast day, with a tailwind most of the time,” Kooij said in the flash interview. “But the sprint was into a headwind, which made it tricky. I fought my way forward and launched my sprint. Luckily, I still had enough left in the legs.”

In the final kilometers, the rider from Numansdorp had to do it almost entirely on his own, after his team had already been burned out early. But as if he had already won a thousand sprints, Kooij stayed remarkably calm and in the right position. “That’s always a big part of sprinting. Especially in races like these, it’s a fight for position all day long. We were a bit early, but it allowed me to save some energy. I’m very happy with this."

On the Belgian plains, the race split wide open several times. Kooij himself missed the front echelon for a while, but eventually managed to get back. “I thought it wouldn’t be enough to really make it break apart, but then it did. At first I wasn’t there, but later it all came back together. Then it was full focus on the sprint.” There, he was far too quick for Milan Fretin (Cofidis) and Pavel Bittner (Picnic PostNL).

Wednesday’s crash wasn’t too bad, though the killer bees sprinter still felt it. “You always feel it, of course. But the damage for me was quite manageable. Some stiffness and a few small scrapes, as often happens when you hit the ground. But the feeling was good enough today, and I’m happy I could do my sprint.”

For a moment it looked like Kooij might be too late: in the final kilometer he was sitting relatively far back, while rivals Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla) seemed perfectly positioned. But while they were already half exposed to the wind, Kooij was able to bide his time. “With that headwind, you can afford to come fairly late. That was the case again today.” With the win, Kooij also appeared to take over the leader’s jersey from Merlier, but after second-place finisher Fretin was relegated, the European champion moved up to sixth in the stage classification, just enough to retain the lead.