Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Debutant Olav Kooij has won the first sprint finish of this year’s Tour de France after a crash split the peloton on the run into Pau.
Kooij beat Max Kanter and Tim Merlier to the line from a reduced bunch after an incident six kilometres from the end of the 158km stage five from Lannemezan on Wednesday (Thursday AEST) held up several of the sprint lead-out trains.
Race leader Torstein Traeen retained the yellow jersey he took on Tuesday despite being held up in the incident, crossing the line alongside the main general classification hopefuls around 14 seconds behind Kooij.
That means Traeen continues to lead by 28 seconds from Sean Quinn, with overall favourite Tadej Pogacar in fourth place, seven minutes 53 seconds down and on the same time as rival Jonas Vingegaard in fifth.
Kooij was a late addition to Decathlon CMA CGM’s Tour squad after illness delayed the start to his season, but immediately justified his selection by winning the first Tour sprint he has ever contested.
“After a couple of hard days here already we’ve had to wait for this day to get this first chance to sprint in this Tour and to immediately win is unbelievable,” he said.
“I think it means a lot just in general after a tough spring to get back to this level, to keep believing in yourself and just a few people who believe in you is all you need.”
A number of riders had gone down on a sharp right-hander on the approach to Pau, just outside the sprint zone which would have meant no time losses for anyone held up.
Before that point, this first flat stage of the Tour had been relatively sedate, with Baptiste Veistroffer spending a lonely day out in a solo breakaway until late in the day.
British champion Fred Wright had been in a trio of riders who tried to get away after the final climb of the day around 25km from the finish, but it proved a short-lived attack.
