The race started in rainy conditions, but the weather cleared upon reaching the Ligurian coast. An early breakaway of eight riders was only caught on the climb of the Cipressa, after which the pace increased significantly. Kooij initially held his position well in the peloton.

Tadej Pogačar launched an attack on the Cipressa, quickly joined by Filippo Ganna and Van der Poel. It soon became clear that this trio would fight for the win, prompting Kooij and his teammates to shift their focus.

In the sprint from the chasing group, Kooij ultimately finished eighth. “In races like these, the dynamics need to be different for me to contend for the victory. When Pogačar’s team upped the pace on the Cipressa, I knew what was coming. In the end, I secured a strong finish, but I definitely want to return for more in the future. It was a tough race, both because of the distance and the high pace in the final. The team did an excellent job keeping me at the front and guiding me over the climbs”, Kooij said.

“This may not be the result we came for, but given how the race unfolded, we have to be satisfied with it”, said sports director Maarten Wynants. “We can be proud of how we presented ourselves today. We always race to win, but in the finale, it became clear that wasn’t an option anymore. After that, we maximized our result, and for now, we should be satisfied with that. We handled things better than last year, and this performance offers Olav a lot of perspective. We were hoping for a bunch sprint for victory, but today, three riders were clearly stronger than the rest. At least we have no regrets about how we raced.”