Olav Kooij wins stage five of Tour de France, Traeen retains yellow jersey

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The 24-year-old beat German Max Kanter into second Norway’s Torstein Træen keeps leader’s yellow jersey Olav Kooij, teammate to Paul Seixas at Decathlon CMA CGM, emerged out of the heat haze in Pau to win stage five in the Place de Verdun. The first sprint finish in the 2026 Tour de France saw Kooij, who won three stages in last year’s Tour of Britain, win with ease from Max Kanter of XDA Astana. “After a couple [of] hard days already, we had to wait to today to get this first chance to sprint in the Tour, and to immediately win is unbelievable,” the Dutch rider said. “It means quite a lot. I had a pretty tough spring, and I think just to get back to this level and to keep believing in yourself – and just a few people who believe in you as well – is all you need.” Continue reading...

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Dutch rider Olav Kooij won the fifth stage of the Tour de France in a sprint finish on Wednesday, while Norwegian rider Torstein Traeen kept the yellow jersey on a day when the peloton largely took it easy. Kooij was put in a strong position to attack by his Decathlon CMA CGM teammates and held off German Max Kanter and Belgian Tim Merlier in a dash to the line. Traeen rolled over the line 14 seconds later in a big main group containing defending champion Tadej Pogacar and fellow Tour contender Jonas Vingegaard.