Tour de France 2026: Olav Kooij wins sprint finish on stage five

Dutch rider Olav Kooij won a bunch sprint finish after a crash in a chaotic conclusion to stage five of the Tour de France.

The 24-year-old, who is competing at the event for the first time, held off Germany’s Max Kanter, with Belgium’s Tim Merlier crossing the line in third.

Norway’s Torstein Traeen retained the overall race leader’s yellow jersey despite being caught up in a pile up just over five kilometres from end of the 158.3km run from Lannemezan to Pau.

The Norwegian ended up 14 seconds behind Kooij, along with reigning champion Tadej Pogacar and the other main general classification contenders – two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel.

France’s teenage star Paul Seixas and British duo Tom Pidcock and Adam Yates were also in the same group.

Traeen leads the standings by 28 seconds from American Sean Quinn.

Bidding for a fifth Tour title. Pogacar sits in fourth place, seven minutes and 53 seconds down on the same time, along with fifth-placed Vingegaard.

However, the day was all about one of the Dane’s former team-mates, Kooij, who was a late addition to Decathlon CMA CGM’s squad after his start to his season was hindered by illness.

“After a couple of hard days here already we’ve had to wait for this day to get this first chance to sprint in the Tour – and to immediately win is unbelievable,” he said.

“I think it means a lot just in general after a pretty tough spring to get back to this level, to keep believing in yourself and just a few people who believe in you as well is all you need.

“To be here with the support of the team today is all I could ask for. It was an easy day until the final. I just managed to find my way, find the right wheel and I just wanted to have the chance to win. I will enjoy this.”