Dutch sprinter talks Grand Tour plans, recovery from injury and his new lead-out man Dan McLay with Cyclingnews
Kooij reached new heights in 2024 with a maiden Giro d'Italia stage victory(Image credit: Getty Images)
While a Tour de France debut in 2025 remains "not the most likely" for young sprinter Olav Kooij, he still believes Visma-Lease a Bike is the right team for him going forward.
After graduating from Visma's development team in 2021, Kooij has quickly amassed 36 professional victories and had his first taste of Grand Tour success last season with a maiden stage win at the Giro d'Italia. And he's still only getting better.
Next season will be a contract year for Kooij, who looks set to be the top fast man not head to the Tour, with a debut for Jonathan Milan and a return for Tim Merlier looking likely.
However, he's confident that the Dutch outfit will pick him the most optimal race calendar, while also being realistic about his place in the pecking order behind Visma's GC leader Jonas Vingegaard.
"Oh, I have no idea. I think it's maybe not the most likely," said Kooij to Cyclingnews of a potential Tour debut, speaking at Rouleur Live.
"But I think it's probably up there in the talks of how we want to go to the Tour with the team, and how we want to do the other Grand Tours. Knowing the team, they will look into all possibilities and see, in the end, what they think is the best.
"In the next few weeks or December camp, we will talk about the race program and see what our goals are and how we want to go and attack the season."
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Kooij can be assured of a second Grand Tour appearance even ahead of decisions being made at Visma's incoming December training camp. But while he's not focused too far ahead, he has considered his future with the Tour of course being a career goal.
"I'm most of all just focusing on next year and going into the Spring in good shape already. And then bringing it into a Grand Tour," said Kooij.
"Then of course I also have to think about what I want in the future and what's the best place to be. But for now, I'm really, really happy with the team.
"I started my under-23 career there and developed through to a rider winning at WorldTour level, winning a grand tour stage, so I think really have to be also excited for the future."
Kooij was the top sprinter at last season's Paris-Nice, taking two stage victories (Image credit: Getty Images)
Amid Kooij's 36 professional victories, the likes of Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte have on occasion operated as lead-outs. However, that's only been in a secondary role to their primary ambitions in the team, as Classics leaders and Grand Tour stage winners in their own right.
With McLay, Kooij will now have devoted support from one of the most experienced lead-outs in the peloton.
Having scored eight wins in 2024, seven of which at WorldTour level, Kooij continued to show his impressive top speed and improved ability to fight for position. But what he lacked on Jasper Philipsen, Merlier, and Milan, sprinters who were narrowly more successful than him last season, was perhaps a last man like McLay.
"I'm really excited, yes. [He's] someone who I can also learn from his experience. I think a big part of being a good lead-out is the experience," said Kooij to Cyclingnews.
"It's not a job that's easy for young guys. You see a lot of guys coming through but for this specific role, you really need this experience to make the right decisions at the right time. I look forward to starting working with him."
McLay has joined Visma from Arkéa-B&B Hotels where he was often working for second-tier sprinters or those no longer at their peak such as Arnaud Démare, not of the current calibre of Kooij, who at 23, also has heaps of potential left to unlock. It looks like a ready-made partnership.
The Dutchman also had some say in McLay's recruitment and believes he could be vital to increasing Visma's win output in 2025.
"We thought it through, of course, what could help the team and how we could improve. Signing someone like Dan was also something I said to the team 'I think that could help us get more wins', not only for me, but we have more fast guys," continued Kooij.
"Like with Matthew [Brennan] also going pro, he's a young talented fast guy. So I think it always helps with a lot of races ending in sprint finishes, a guy like him will be crucial in even more wins."
Kooij's 2024 season ended early due to an unresolved knee issue after he crashed out of the Renewi Tour, however, that is now fully fixed after a minor surgery and he's ready to get back into training ahead of December training camp.
"We found some road rash from from earlier crash, which caused irritation in the knee and that had to be removed. So we made the call to end the season early to get the small surgery to remove it and then let the body rest," recalled the Dutchman.
"It's never nice to end a season due to an injury. But I think we made the right call on this one. Now I'm pain-free again and it's good to be back on the bike without any problems."
While he managed fewer victories than in his past two breakout years, Kooij was delighted with his progress and the overall quality of his eight wins in 2024, among them a stage from the UAE Tour, two stages at Paris-Nice and the highlight of a Giro d'Italia stage win into Naples ahead of Milan.
After taking that first Grand Tour stage win on debut at the Giro d'Italia, Kooij is eager for more from the three-week races, especially after that maiden appearance was cut short due to sickness.
"I think it only makes you more hungry, knowing that you're capable of doing it, but also knowing that it's a really hard thing to do so that you need to get it all right to be able to win at that level," said Kooij of how success at the Giro affected him.
"During the winter, first, you first start off easy, but then soon you also want to have those goals and the things you really work hard for and make also the sacrifices to be at your best."
While it probably won't be the Tour, an ever-improving Kooij, buoyed by the addition of a McLay-led train, could see a drastic increase in his Grand Tour stage wins in 2025.
He's more than proved already that he's right up there with Milan, Merlier and Philipsen as one of the best sprinters in the world, however, the potential to be the very best, which Van Aert saw as a possibility, is yet to be unlocked.
Rouleur Live ran from November 14-16, featuring dozens of cycling stars and over 80 brand exhibitors at the Truman Brewery in London. The event will return in 2025 for a tenth edition.
Kooij was lead-out by Van Aert to four wins at the 2023 Tour of Britain (Image credit: Alex Whitehead/SWpix)
James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
