Kooij’s Tour de France audition begins with long awaited Decathlon debut

Kooij has yet to race for Decathlon since joining from Visma | Lease a Bike over the winter. Illness kept him out of competition during the opening months of the season, delaying what was expected to be the start of a new sprint project built partly around the 24-year-old.

With July approaching, his comeback is more than a simple return to racing. It is an early test of whether he can quickly become the Tour option Decathlon hoped they had signed.

“The plan is to win here,” sports director Mark Renshaw told L’Équipe.

The Australian said Kooij has made clear progress in recent weeks and is ready to compete again after rebuilding through training.

“He is in very good shape,” Renshaw said. “He has rebuilt very well recently, with good training blocks, and he is improving every day. The goal is to keep going as quickly as possible, but without rushing things. And the objective is always the same for us as a team: to come to a race to win. We built the team for that.”

Kooij sounded more cautious in the team’s own statement, stressing that the race will be approached step by step.

“We will take it day by day and see how we can get a good result in this race,” he said.

The Boucles de la Mayenne should give him several chances to measure himself in sprint conditions after Thursday’s prologue. With riders such as Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Matthew Brennan (Visma | Lease a Bike) also expected to line up, Kooij’s first race in Decathlon colours should provide a useful indication of where he stands.

Renshaw admitted that expecting an immediate victory is ambitious, but said the team needs race results, not just encouraging training data.

“We are humble enough to know that a victory is asking a lot,” he said. “You can have good numbers in training, but for sprinters, you need a finish line. That is how they move forward. The plan is to win here, then at the Tour of Belgium, where in general you face Tim Merlier and Jasper Philipsen. Those would be two important milestones.”

Those milestones could matter for Decathlon’s Tour selection. Kooij left Visma in search of a clearer route to the biggest races, and a Tour de France debut was one of the obvious attractions of the move. 

With a strong sprint record already behind him, including stage wins at the Giro d’Italia, he would give Decathlon a genuine card to play on the flatter days in July, while also taking some pressure off the shoulders of teammate Paul Seixas, who is set to make his Tour debut under high expectations.

Renshaw, however, refused to reveal too much when asked about Kooij’s Tour selection.

“Our priority is for him to win in his first two races,” he replied evasively.