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.
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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.”
More to follow…
