'Once I saw 150 I thought, now's the time' – Olav Kooij wins Tour of Britain Men stage three after chaotic sprint finish

Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) added another victory to his extensive Tour of Britain palmarès on stage three, crossing the line first in Beverley after a chaotic sprint finish.

Having finished second yesterday behind Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step), Kooij turned the tables on the Belgian, who was second today and was forced to cede his red points jersey to Kooij.

Dutchman Kooij now has eight Tour of Britain stage wins to his credit – four coming in 2023 and three last year. He is the second most winning rider in the race, behind Mark Cavendish with 10.

GC leader Lewis Askey (NSN Cycling) finished at the same time in 17th place, retaining his top spot.

Afterwards Kooij said it had been good to win after having his efforts thwarted on the previous stage.

"It's always nice to get a win, especially after yesterday," he said. "I wanted to try and do my sprint at the right moment, and especially with the headwind I had to really wait to find my way through and then open up. In the end I stayed patient, and once I saw 150 [metres to go] I thought 'now's the time to go'."

The result mirrored that of stage three of the race in 2023 for Kooij, who also won in Beverley that day. Asked whether that experienced had helped today, he said: "Quite well. Especially the run-in to the corner is really fast and I think we did it really well with the team. We managed really well in the wind, controlling at the end, and the boys brought me in to the final in a really perfect way."

The 181.1km third stage began in Hull and finished in nearby Beverley in East Yorkshire, taking riders on a big, northerly loop before heading south again for three laps outside the finishing town.

A mostly flat day that was custom-made for a sprint finish, the trio of cat-three climbs mid stage was always going to be unlikely to significantly affect the outcome, and the early break was well away by the time the race reached them.

A stiff westerly always seemed more likely to play a part, and while it kept teams on their toes, there were no major splits. The break was caught soon after 60km to go, after which it became apparent that the Belgian Tarteletto-Isorex team were keen to take advantage of conditions that replicated those back home.

An attack by the team's Gianna Marchand quickly ran aground, but shortly afterwards Yorben Lauryssen had more success, attacking with 48km to go and holding out all the way to 7km to go – and being awarded the day's combativity prize to boot.

Then it was the turn of the teams of the fastmen, with Netcompany-Ineos and Decathlon CMA CGM massing near the front to keep the pace high. In the final Kooij got the jump, while a boxed-in Merlier thrashed around looking for the gaps, and the whole show looking as though it might come tumbling down at any moment. Thankfully everyone stayed upright, while Kooij came in well clear, at least a bike length ahead of rival Merlier.