The Dutchman Olav Kooij maintained his history-making 100% record in the Tour of Britain with an explosive sprint finish to win stage four in Newark-on-Trent. It meant Kooij equalled Edvald Boasson Hagen’s record of four consecutive Tour of Britain stage victories in 2009, though the Dutchman is the first rider to stay perfect from the start over four stages.
Kooij was thankful to his Jumbo-Visma teammate Wout van Aert for another expertly executed lead-out as rival teams jostled for position.
The 21-year-old, who won the first three stages, finished ahead of Team DSM’s Casper van Uden and third-placed Ethan Vernon. Jumbo-Visma have dominated the first four stages, all of which have featured little climbing and ended in bunched sprint finishes.
Kooij was delighted with his latest success. “We’re just going day by day and it’s been amazing so far,” he said. “The hat-trick was already special, and now four out of four is amazing. I’m really happy with what we’ve done so far and I hope to keep it going.”
Stage four’s 166.6km course started in Sherwood Forest and a two-man breakaway of Harry Tanfield and Belgium’s Abram Stockman were swallowed up by the peloton with 27.5km remaining.
Kooij leads the general classification ahead of Van Aert and Ireland’s Sam Bennett of Bora-Hansgrohe, with Great Britain’s Vernon fifth after four straight top-six stage finishes.
Stage five, a 192.4km-course, starts and finishes in Felixstowe on Thursday.
