Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) won the showdown of sprinters at the 2022 Sparkassen Münsterland Giro. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) took second place ahead of Max Walscheid (Cofidis).
The 20-year-old Dutchman took his 12th victory of the year, steering to the left side of the wide open course and scorching past Walscheid to open a huge gap. Philipsen then moved past the Cofidis rider to take second place at the line. Walscheid was the last German to win Munsterland Giro, back in 2018.
“You were all waiting all day for that sprint and you hope you can at least do it because it was really hectic. In the end I got space and I felt like I still had an extra gear, so it was nice to get another win,” Kooij said at the finish.
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“It’s been a good season. You also want to finish it off in a good way, and I’m happy I could add another victory.”
Jumbo-Visma came into the race with just five riders, and went one down when Tim van Dijke crashed on the circuits, while Edoardo Affini dropped a chain to take him out of contention. But none of that mattered when Kooij opened up his sprint.
"I wasn't feeling too strong after coming back from Australia [Road World Championships]. I didn't know really what to expect," Kooij said. "In the final I felt good, so I've still got some legs left."
With a little over 25km covered from the start in Telgte, five riders, all 23 years of age or younger, had stretched out the race lead to 4:15 - Jesse De Rooij and Sebastian Niehues (Bike Aid), Julian Borresch (Saris Rouvy Sauerland Team), Ole Theiler (Lotto-Kern Haus) and Jannis Peter (P&S Benotti).
The first KOM at Höxberg saw Niehues score the top points, followed by De Rooij and Theiler. There were two consecutive climbs over Stromberg, the points on both passes were swooped up by Borresch.
After passing the halfway mark through the 205.9km contest, the gap was down to 3:27 as the five leaders absorbed more KOM points in Pilatusberg, Theiler took 3 points on offer ahead of Borresch and De Rooij. Borresch scored enough points to take the mountains classification.
With 72km to go, four continued northward with a gap that just dipped below two minutes and Peter falling back. The quartet pushed on to contest a trio of intermediate sprint points. Borresch took the 3 points on offer ahead of Nieheus in Sassenberg, with flat roads stretching ahead for the final 62km.
Team BikeExchange-Jayco and QuickStep-AlphaVinyl led the peloton in a not-yet-inspired chase of the breakaway with the gap hovering at two minutes with 55km to go. Headed across the second intermediate sprint in Ostbevern, Theiler took three points and Borresch took two, trailed by Niehues.
The final dash for the final intermediate sprint points in Gelmer were taken by 19-year-old Theiler, and the youngster wrapped up the points classification. Five kilometres later and with 25km to race, the clear signs of the peloton making the catch became reality and set up a sprint finish for the three finishing circuits, each lap 4.4km with a section of cobbles.
UAE Team Emirates, Team DSM and Alpecin-Deceuninck massed at the front of the peloton with 17km to go, the colours of Team BikeExchange-Jayco, QuickStep-AlphaVinyl and Jumbo-Visma visible as well.
Bora-Hansgrohe set the pace on the opening lap, Ide Schelling at the front protecting Bennett. On the penultimate lap, Tim Marsman (Metec-Solarwatt p/b Mantel) set off on a brief attack.
Lotto-Kern Haus and Jumbo-Visma came to the front to lead out the final lap, but Lotto Soudal's Fred Frison charged to a solo attack, which lasted until the final kilometre until the big sprinters took over.
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