Olav Kooij claims Tour de France stage five with Tourmalet test looming large

The 24-year-old beat German Max Kanter into second Norway’s Torstein Træen keeps leader’s yellow jersey Olav Kooij, teammate to Paul Seixas at Decathlon CMA CGM, emerged out of the heat haze in Pau to win stage five in the Place de Verdun. The first sprint finish in the 2026 Tour de France saw Kooij, who won three stages in last year’s Tour of Britain, win with ease from Max Kanter of XDA Astana. “After a couple [of] hard days already, we had to wait to today to get this first chance to sprint in the Tour, and to immediately win is unbelievable,” the Dutch rider said. “It means quite a lot. I had a pretty tough spring, and I think just to get back to this level and to keep believing in yourself – and just a few people who believe in you as well – is all you need.” Continue reading...