'Hopefully we can win some more': Olav Kooij sprints to close-run victory on Tour of Britain Men stage one

Tour of Britain Men sprint favourite Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) started the race with a thrilling seafront victory on stage one at Southwold, Suffolk.

He was run close by Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider Tord Gudmestad, who began his sprint early and nearly held on in the seafront headwind. The Norwegian was a close second, while Hugo Hofstetter (IPT) was third.

Home rider Sam Watson (Ineos Grenadiers) placed sixth.

This was career win number five at the Tour of Britain for Kooij, who was a four-stage winner back in 2023 and now, once again, leads the race overall.

He said afterwards: "I have a lot of good memories from two years ago so I was happy to come back here and try to continue that."

Looking ahead to the rest of the race, he said that he hoped he and team-mate Matt Brennan both be able to enjoy success and added: "I don't think I'll be able to get four [stages] like two years ago but the target is to get as many stage wins as possible with the team. We're off to a good start so hopefully we can continue winning some more."

Also present was Watson's team-mate Geraint Thomas, riding his final professional race. But just as it was for Kooij, it was a close-run thing for Thomas, whose participation almost looked in doubt at one point due to a delayed flight.

There was also a front wheel puncture for the Welshman in the final kilometres, but he barely seemed to break stride, regaining the bunch with aplomb to finish safely near the back of the pack.

How it happened

The long awaited start of the Tour of Britain Men 2025 rolled away from the start in Ipswich under heavy skies, bound for Southwold on a 161km parcours taking in the Suffolk towns of Aldeburgh, Framlingham and Beccles.

The day's break was established almost out of the blocks, sparked by Flanders-Baloise pair Milan Lanhove and Victor Vercouillie, who were joined straight away by Diego Uriarte (Kern Pharma) and Josh Golliker, riding for the Great Britain composite team.

The peloton were clearly happy to let the quartet go, and the four had carved out a lead of more than two-and-a-half minutes inside 10km.

Under grey skies and eventually – inevitably – rain, this is where the gap remained for around the first half of the stage. The breakaway riders hoovered up the KoM points at Mill Hill – the only classified climb of the day – with Lanhove prevailing; the Belgian also won the intermediate sprint a short while later and will wear the mountains jersey on tomorrow's stage.

With 80km to go, the gap slowly began to fall as the peloton got organised, and it kept falling until three of four breakaways were eventually caught with 16km to go.

Only Vercouillie survived, and the Belgian put on an admirable stint over the next 10 kilometres, finally being caught as the chasing peloton – powered on by Visma-Lease a Bike.

He was eventually caught with less than six kilometres left to ride, as the bunch homed in on Southwold. A hectic traverse of the town's outskirts took them to a right-head turn onto the seafront, where Tudor Pro Cycling's Alberto Dainese was first to launch for the line.

But he ran out of steam on the long headwind drag, with Gudmestad and finally Kooij coming past to take the honours.

Results

Tour of Britain 2025 stage one: Ipswich > Southwold (161km)

1. Olav Kooij (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 3:29:01
2. Tord Gudmestad (Nor) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
3. Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) IPT
4. Tim Torn Teutenberg (Ger) Lidl-Trek
5. Alberto Dainese (Ita) Tudor Pro Cycling
6. Sam Watson (Gbr) Ineos Grenadiers
7. Tom Crabbe (Bel) Flanders-Baloise
8. Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
9. Rory Townsend (Ire) Q36.5 Pro Cycling
10. Jules Hesters (Bel) Flanders-Baloise, all at same time

General Classification after stage one

1. Olav Kooij (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 3:29:01
2. Tord Gudmestad (Nor) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +4s
3. Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) IPT, +6s
4. Milan Lanhove (Bel) Flanders-Baloise, +7s
5. Josh Golliker (Gbr) Great Britain, +8s
6. Diego Uriarte (Spa) Kern-Pharma, +9s
7. Tim Torn Teutenberg (Ger) Lidl-Trek, +10s
8. Alberto Dainese (Ita) Tudor Pro Cycling
9. Sam Watson (Gbr) Ineos Grenadiers
10. Tom Crabbe (Bel) Flanders-Baloise, all at same time