Olav Kooij powers to victory in Tour of Britain opener
Olav Kooij (Visma | Lease a Bike) won the opening stage of the 2025 Tour Britain, outpowering Tord Gudmestad (Decathlon AG2R) on the Southwold sea front.
The opening stage of the 2025 edition got off to an immediate flyer with four riders going clear of the pack, after just a few kilometres of racing in the south east of England. Victor Vercouille (Flanders Baloise), Diego Uriate (Kern Pharma), Milan Lanhove (Flanders Baloise) and Joshua Golliker (British NT) built a steady advantage over the peloton with the gap going out to over two minutes.
The peloton behind seemed relatively content to let the group cruise ahead, with Visma | Lease a Bike and Decathlon AG2R setting a relaxed tempo in their chase on marshy lands of The Fens, with only 831 metres of elevation across the 161.4km.
The only real damper for the riders on their efforts was the weather, with the typical British rain making its appearance already, and the stage itself proved to be quite the slow burner.
Heading towards the finale, the pace started to gradually ramp up with the the gap between the breakaway and the peloton being slashed to under a minute before the intermediate sprint in Halesworth with a quartet of team's coming to the foray with Uno-X Mobility, Unibet Tietema Rockets, Visma | Lease a Bike and Picnic Post NL.
Into the last 15 kilometres, Vercouillie remained the sole rider ahead from the break of the day as the stage was all set for the expected bunch sprint in Southwold, with the catch made with 5.7 kilometres to go.
Leading into the finale, Ineos, Visma | Lease a Bike, Unibet Tietema Rockets and Picnic PostNL positioned themselves at the front with Uno-X Mobility looking the cream of the crop.
Within the final kilometre, Visma | Lease a Bike were well drilled with two riders right at the front of the peloton to provide the launch pad for Kooij to victory.
Kooij was made to work for his victory as the Norwegian Tord Gudmestad launched a poweful and punchy sprint, but it was Kooij who prevailed on the opening stage timing his sprint to perfection. Gudmestad finished second on the stage and rounding out the podium was Hugo Hofstetter.
