Tour de France 2026 : Olav Kooij wins in Pau, Baptiste Veistroffer lights up the day
It took until stage five for the sprinters to finally get their chance. In Pau, Olav Kooij made it count. The Decathlon-CMA CGM rider from the Netherlands beat Max Kanter and Tim Merlier after a finish shaken up by a crash inside the final six kilometres. On his Tour de France debut, the 24-year-old is already off the mark.
It was a win that capped a pretty chaotic start to the year. Kept away from racing for months by a virus, Kooij had only returned at the end of May. He soon got back to business, raising his arms three times before almost belatedly heading to the Tour. At the first stage really made for him, he wasn’t about to waste the chance.
Kooij does it himself in a messy finish
The sprint trains were starting to form when the race was thrown into chaos by a crash 5.7 kilometres from the line. Several riders were caught up, including a few from Soudal Quick-Step, which made Tim Merlier’s lead-out that much harder to organise.
Olav Kooij found himself without a proper train to deliver him to the line, but he still worked his way into position in a reduced bunch. The Dutchman launched his effort and nobody had an answer. Max Kanter took second, while Merlier rounded out the podium.
It was Decathlon-CMA CGM’s first win of the 2026 race. It also takes Kooij to 51 professional victories, with a Tour de France stage now on his record.
144 kilometres out front for Baptiste Veistroffer
Long before the sprint in Pau, one rider had already decided to spend the day well away from the pack. Baptiste Veistroffer went from kilometre zero and nobody went with him. The Intermarche-Lotto rider from France set off alone on a 144-kilometre solo mission.
With his lead stretching to 3 minutes and 30 seconds, the Breton spent a long time alone at the front. His team, missing Arnaud De Lie after his withdrawal, is now looking for other ways to matter on the sprint days. Veistroffer did the job perfectly.
The final climbs on the route slowly cut into his advantage, and the Frenchman was finally caught about 14 kilometres from the finish. No stage win, not even a last stand for the stage, but a full day out front on the Tour.
“We need to find a way to liven up the sprint stages. So we try things like this,” Veistroffer said after the finish. The 26-year-old, already used to long breakaways, didn’t hide his enjoyment after another day spent off the front.
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Crash has no overall impact for Torstein Traeen
The main worry of the day centred on Torstein Traeen. In his first stage wearing the Yellow Jersey, the Norwegian was caught in the crash 5.7 kilometres from the finish.
A sore right knee and a damaged brake lever looked like they might cause problems, but the Uno-X Mobility leader was able to carry on. He made it back into the bunch before the line and, in the end, lost no time to his main general classification rivals. After the stage, he played down the issue and said it was only a few scrapes.
Traeen keeps the Yellow Jersey heading into a day that should be far harder to control. The race is heading back into the mountains, with a finish in Gavarnie-Gedre and climbs over the Col d’Aspin and the Tourmalet. The Norwegian still leads Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard by 7 minutes and 53 seconds, but the first big showdown among the favourites could soon shake things up.
For Kooij, Veistroffer and the sprint men, the concerns were elsewhere on Wednesday. The first leaves Pau with a maiden Tour stage win. The second with 144 kilometres of solo breakaway work in the legs and, naturally, a few pictures to remember from a long day at the sharp end.
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Photo credit : Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP
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