Kooij powers to first Tour win after crash splits bunch in finale

Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) powered to victory on stage 5 of the Tour de France, beating Max Kanter (XDS-Astana) and Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) in Pau after the peloton was split by a crash in the finale.

A crash just outside the safety zone with 5km to go saw Merlier lose the bulk of his Soudal Quick-Step teammates for the sprint, and it also saw yellow jersey Torstein Træen (Uno-X Mobility) caught on the wrong side of the split.

Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Jonas Vingegaard (Visma) and Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) were also among those chasing back on through the final kilometres, but they would reach the finish together, 14 seconds down on Kooij.

Further gaps developed in the fraught final 5km, but Kooij was well positioned throughout. A group of 20 riders remained in contention come the final kilometre, where XDS-Astana took up the reins on behalf of Max Kanter. 

Biniam Girmay (NSN) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) were also still in the mix, but Kooij would not be denied. He had a troubled start to life at Decathlon after illness delayed the beginning of his season until May, but he earned selection for the Tour with some bright showings and he justified the decision with an imperious sprint here.

Kooij struck out from distance to beat Kanter and Merlier, while Huub Artz (Lotto Intermarche) took fourth ahead of Jasper Philipsen.

Although Træen suffered a late scare, he finished 14 seconds alongside the GC contenders to retain the yellow jersey with a lead of 28 seconds on Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost) and 3:50 on Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek).

Pogacar, who came home in the same group, remains fourth overall, 7:53 down on Træen and on the same time as his prime challenger Vingegaard.

Træen has justifiable hope of retaining the yellow jersey on Thursday’s stage to Gavarnie-Gèdre, but the Tour’s return to the Pyrenees look destined to create major differences among the GC contenders, with the Col du Tourmalet on the menu.

After four rugged days, the flat run to Pau on stage 5 promised to be a day for the sprinters. But despite the terrain and the gentle headwind, Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto Intermarché) attacked almost immediately after the flag dropped.

The odds were impossible and Veistroffer would surely have preferred some company in his sortie off the front, but he stuck to his task, quickly establishing a three-minute lead over the peloton.

Behind, Soudal Quick-Step and Alpecin-Deceuninck struck up a working alliance to keep Veistroffer’s advantage under control, and that scenario remained in place for the bulk of the afternoon.

The gap was down to two minutes by the intermediate sprint at Vic-en-Bigorre with 45km to go, where Max Kanter (XDS-Astana) won the sprint for second ahead of Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Biniam Girmay (NSN) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck).

The day’s lone climb, the category Côte de Baleix, came with 25km to go. Veistroffer still had half a minute in hand over the top, while Fred Wright (Pinarello-Q36.5), Kasper Asgreen (EF Education-EasyPost) and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step) counterattacked over the top. Their effort added to the narrative of the day, but it was never likely to change the bottom line, and they relented shortly afterwards. 

The day’s most combative rider Veistroffer was swept up with 14km to go, as the sprinters’ teams assumed their positions ahead of the inevitable and familiar bunch sprint in Pau.