With Wout van Aert as his lead-out man, the pressure to win can be high, but Olav Kooij managed to do just that in the Tour of Britain. Three times in a row. It was his tenth victory of the season (including the team time trial at Paris-Nice) and the 25th as a professional.
Kooij achieved his 25th victory at the age of 21 years and 323 days, according to cycling statistics. In this statistic, it includes the youngest cyclists to reach 25 professional victories.
He trails Eddy Merckx by just two days but is ahead of Remco Evenepoel and Tadej Pogacar. Of course, Evenepoel and Pogacar often register their victories at a slightly higher level than Kooij.
Today, Kooij will aim to add his 26th professional victory and the fourth consecutive one at the Tour of Britain.