Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) lived up to the billing and won stage 1 of the Tour de Pologne in Legnica, taking victory after surviving a hectic run into the final sprint that saw a crash inside the last 2km.
The Dutch sprinter hit the front late 200 metres from the line with a perfectly-timed surge after the final bend, winning by a wheel from Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep). Jensen Plowright (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was third.
Visma controlled for much of the 200km stage that started in Wrocław, but did not organise their lead-out well, with Kooij having to freelance his way to the front as riders clashed shoulders and some even had to unclip amid the chaos of a scary sprint in the final 5km.
A crash 1.8km from the line occured after several narrowings of a largely wide road leading into the city, and meant several lead-out trains were affected. This was, however, the only likely pure bunch sprint on the 2025 route.
After his sixth win of the season and fourth at WorldTour-level, Kooij takes the race leader's jersey into stage 2, which offers up a hilly route starting and finishing in Karpacz.
"It was definitely not easy, but somehow we managed to pull off a victory almost every time we come here, so that's good memories," said Kooij, after his fifth Tour de Pologne stage win, before giving big credit to his team.
"It was pretty amazing and a really strong job by the team to control all day, and also to bring us in the final like this, we maybe lost each other a bit – the three of us in the final, but we managed to still do an amazing job."
There was a rainy opening to the 82nd Tour de Pologne, with men's WorldTour action returning, eight days after the conclusion of the Tour de France. Wrocław hosted the start of the 200km stage to Legnica, with a breakaway quickly forming.
Lars Boven (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Donavan Grondin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Patryk Stosz (Poland) and Nadav Raisberg (Israel-Premier Tech) in the breakaway (Image credit: Getty Images)
Four men got up the road: Lars Boven (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Donavan Grondin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Patryk Stosz (Poland) and Nadav Raisberg (Israel-Premier Tech), but the latter quickly returned to the peloton as the teams with sprinters kept the gap below two minutes.
There was a crash in the peloton for around 12 riders on the wet roads with 160km to go in the stage through a bend, including several from Israel-Premier Tech and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, but everyone was soon back on their bikes.
Lars Boven of Alpecin - Deceuninck (left) and Donavan Grondin of Arkéa - B&B Hotels were the final two in the breakaway (Image credit: Getty Images)
Boven and Grondin were the last men standing, but 38km from the finish, they were reeled back in under the control of Visma-Lease a Bike and Soudal-QuickStep, with the final fight for position beginning to unfold.
Bauke Mollema (Lidl-Trek) sprinted to the maximum KOM points on offer on stage 1, cresting the only categorised climb on an otherwise completely flat route in Prochowice in first, which put some life into the now-complete peloton.
A general view of the peloton headed to Legnica (Image credit: Getty Images)
The wide roads narrowed multiple times on the run into Legnica, which meant for a hectic peloton and eventually a crash with 1.8km to go, with many riders going down near the front. Most of the fast men did survive the chaos, though, so there was still going to be a big sprint.
Tim Torn Teutenberg (Lidl-Trek) opened up the sprint early with a burst 320 metres from the finish, but he soon faded and got passed by the charging bunch.
Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers) and Max Kanter (XDS Astana) were well-positioned, but the pure sprinters were coming quickly, with Kooij charging to the front to take an expected victory on the opener.
Olav Kooij of Visma-Lease a Bike celebrates at podium as Yellow leader jersey winner after stage 1 victory (Image credit: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)
James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
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