Olav Kooij wins chaotic opening stage at the Tour de Pologne
The Dutchman wins a messy sprint where a bunch finish was inevitable after the day's break was kept on a tight leash.
Olav Kooij won the opening stage of the Tour de Pologne, crossing the line first after a chaotic sprint finish.
The Visma | Lease a Bike rider was patient after being perfectly delivered by his team mates, just before Tim Torn Teutenberg (Lidl-Trek) chanced his arm with a long-range, 300m sprint. The German was swamped, though, with Paul Magnier (Soudal-Quickstep) finishing second and Jenson Plowright (Alpecin Deceuninck) third.
The point was inevitable after a day where the breakaway were kept on a tight leash throughout, Soudal-Quickstep and Visma | Lease a Bike giving the day’s break no space. The lead into the finish town of Legnica was chaotic, wide roads allowed many teams to position themselves at the front.
Kooij began the day as the favourite for the sprint finish but had a lot to do, however, his patience was key, the Dutchman opening his sprint 150m from the line and winning by a bike length form Frenchman, Magnier.
How it unfolded
No sooner has one WorldTour event finished than the cycling world rolls onto the next target, this time the Tour de Pologne. Returning for its 82nd edition since the first way back in 1928, the 2025 race consists of seven stages, with this, the first, a flattish 199.7km race between Wrocław and Legnica.
Within the opening few kilometres, four riders were up the road, Lars Boven (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Donavan Grondin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Nadav Raisberg (Israel-Premier Tech) and Patryk Stosz (Poland) building a lead of 2.25 with 20km behind them.
However, with Soudal-Quickstep on the front, that gap came down, eventually settling around the minute mark. A crash saw the advantage go out again and set a pattern where the gap would go out and then come back down again, varying between 2:30 and one minute. With 140km to go, Raisberg clearly realised the game was up and drifted back to the peloton.
Visma | Lease a bike helped Soudal-Quickstep with the pace setting, continuing to hold the break on a very tight leash, a bunch finish clearly on the cards. Indeed, as early as 70km to go, the gap was down to 45 seconds, where it settled, despite Stosz sitting up and leaving the break with only two.
However, they were finally and inevitably brought back 38km from the line, Soudal-Quickstep and Visma | Lease a Bike keeping the pace high, though the expected counterattacks never materialised.
Bauke Mollema (Lidl-Trek) attacked on the run into the day’s classified climb, but with maximum points in the bag, he settled back into the bunch, which was waiting expectantly for the final sprint. A crash late on in the stage threatened to split the race, but it came back together just in time for the run into the city centre.
