Kooij had to give up the leader’s jersey to Norway's Jonas Abrahamsen, who was in the breakaway at the intermediate sprints. He collected enough bonification seconds to take over the yellow jersey from Kooij.

Earlier in the day, Team Jumbo-Visma suffered a significant setback. Sam Oomen was forced to miss the start of the second stage with injured ribs and a sore wrist as the 26-year-old rider was too severely affected by a crash in the opening stage.

"It's a lot harder to control the race now we only have five riders left”, sports director Maarten Wynants said. "Quite early in the stage, it became clear we were on our own. In the final stage, we had to give everything to catch the last remaining escapee. As a result, Mick van Dijke had to make a strong effort which he would have preferred to use for the lead-out. Mike Teunissen positioned Olav well in the last few hundred metres. The fourth place is not bad, but Olav went for the highest possible. Tomorrow will be a day for the GC riders. Later in the week, there might be some sprint opportunities.”