It was Groundhog Day at the Tour of Britain on Wednesday, as Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) took a fourth successive stage win, this time in Newark-on-Trent.
The 21-year-old's team employed copy-and-paste tactics in Nottinghamshire, leading the charge in the final kilometres, before Wout van Aert dropped him off with 200m to go.
Kooij then kicked out of the bunch and crossed the line first to keep his clean sweep at the race. Casper van Uden (dsm-firmenich) came second, with Great Britain’s Ethan Vernon taking back-to-back third places.
"You never really get used to winning," Kooij said afterwards. "It's always nice and it's also always difficult in those sprints."
On the run-in to Newark-on-Trent, the Dutchman lost his lead-out man's wheel, but waded back through the bunch to position himself near the front.
"Sometimes you need to be a little bit patient," he said. "We got it back into the last one and a half kilometres, which was perfect. [Van Aert] knew I was there, and then he knew what he had to do."
Kooij’s win tally this season now stands at 11, with more bunch sprints to come at the Tour of Britain. The last rider to win four on the trot at the race was Edvald Boassen Hagen, who completed the feat in 2009 and went on to win the general classification.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
"We will keep going day by day, but first we will enjoy this one," said Kooij. "The goal for me was just to win throughout the whole season. I didn’t have one specific goal or race in mind. Being able to be consistent this year has been really good for the confidence.”
(Image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix)
TDT-Unibet, omnipresent in breakaways at this year’s race, were up the road once again on Wednesday.
Leaving Robin Hood's Sherwood Forest, the sky blue pair of Harry Tanfield and Abram Stockman were initially joined by James Fouché (Bolton Equities Black Spoke), but were left to go two-up after the Kiwi dropped back to the pack at the midway point after taking full points on the KOM.
The duo’s foray lasted until 27km to go, when they were reeled in by a Jumbo-Visma-fronted peloton.
As the finish line approached, the race grew more technical and chaotic, littered with tricky bends. Jumbo-Visma were caught out by one right-hander, falling back ten places in the peloton, but battled their way back to the front, where their tactics gave a sense of déjà vu.
As he had done on stages one, two and three, Van Aert guided Kooij to the line, leaving him to land yet another victory for the team.
Thank you for reading 20 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Tom joined Cycling Weekly as a news and features writer in the summer of 2022, having previously contributed as a freelancer. He is fluent in French and Spanish, and holds a master's degree in International Journalism, which he passed with distinction. Since 2020, he has been the host of The TT Podcast, offering race analysis and rider interviews.
An enthusiastic cyclist himself, Tom likes it most when the road goes uphill, and actively seeks out double-figure gradients on his rides. His best result is 28th in a hill-climb competition, albeit out of 40 entrants.
