Olav Kooij wins immediately after months of injury: "Great to return like this"
Olav Kooij was sidelined for months due to a stubborn virus, but in his comeback at the Boucles de la Mayenne he immediately showed his class again. The Dutch rider won the first road stage on Thursday. "I really did not expect this," said the 24-year-old, who made the switch from Visma | Lease a Bike to Decathlon CMA CGM last winter.
"Sometimes you just have to believe. I have to thank my team. My teammates believed I could get a good result here. They did an amazing job. For me, it’s great to come back like this after all those months."
It was a ‘pretty fast stage,’ Kooij said about how the race unfolded. "Everyone expected a sprint, so we all knew that the last corner was very important. We had a good plan with the team. When I saw the finish, I thought: I just have to sprint and see how far I get."
Kooij did not really expect to win beforehand. "In recent years, I always raced to win, but today it was more about enjoying the fact that I’m back in the peloton after such a long period without racing. I just wanted to enjoy and do what I love most."
