Kooij Sprint in rain to stage victory in Tirreno-Adriatico, for Pluimers and Van der Poel

Olav Kooij has won the fourth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. After a chaotic ride, with fans and little organization in the peloton, the 23-year-old Dutchman in Trasacco sprinted to the victory. Behind him, Rick Pluimers and Mathieu van der Poel provided a completely Dutch top three.

During the 190 kilometer long stage, it didn’t seem for a long time that Kooij could still sprint with the victory. When the peloton broke in fans, he was not in the front group. Yet the rider of Visma-Lease A Bike managed to fight back and he was even fresh enough to beat Pluimers and Van der Poel in the Sprint.

Filippo Ganna remains the leader in the general classification.

In again rainy and windy circumstances, the riders left for the fourth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. Immediately from the start, the first climb was on the program. Manual Tarozzi, leader of the mountain classification, was therefore immediately sharp. He arrived third at the top and assured himself of another day in the green sweater.

In the leading group of the day, which was only formed when the first mountain was over, Gijs Leemreize was one Dutchman. The five at the front also consisted of the German Jonas Rutsch, Spaniard Jorge Arcas, the Italian Mirco Maestri and the Dane William Blume Levy.

Meanwhile, the peloton broke into several fans led by Ineos-Grenadiers. It caused problems with Sprinters Jonathan Milan and Dylan Groenewegen, who soon had a major deficit on the peloton. Kooij also missed the battle and had to chase.

After an enormous effort, the group Kooij, with 15 kilometers to go, managed to still join the well-thinned platoon.

Leemreize kept it full of the leading group to keep driving for the peloton, but four kilometers from the finish the battled refugees had to give themselves won. Van der Poel showed himself in the last kilometers. He responded to the Demister Irish Ben Healy, then attacked himself, but also quickly dropped back.

There was no question of any organization in the peloton in the final phase, so a group of three riders until just before the finish had a view of the stage victory. Yet a sprint was squeezed from the peloton, in which Kooij was the strongest.