‘Unbelievable’ Kooij wins Tour de France 5th stage in chaotic sprint finish

Dutch debutant Olav Kooij won the fifth stage of the Tour de France on Wednesday in a chaotic sprint finish sparked by a crash five kilometres from the line which scuppered several teams’ hopes.

The 24-year-old beat German Max Kanter into second with Belgian Tim Merlier coming home in third as Norway’s Torstein Traeen kept the race leader’s yellow jersey despite being brought down in the crash.

“I had to wait until this day to get this first chance to sprint in the Tour and to win it is unbelievable,” said Kooij.

With the sprinters primed for action on this flat fifth stage billed as a likely bunch finish, there was understandably some extra tension in the peloton in the run-in.

Several riders went down in the spill with just over 5km to ride, with Dutchman Alex Molenaar seemingly the worst affected.

However, dozens of riders were slowed up by the crash and found themselves desperately trying to chase down a reduced peloton charging towards the finish line at Pau on another sweltering day in the southwest of France.