The peloton had to complete five local laps, which included a steep climb with a gradient of up to 20 percent. Kooij visibly struggled on the final climb and had to let go for a while, but soon rejoined the lead group in the presence of some of his teammates. The young Dutch sprinter then took his team to the front of the peloton and finished the job a few moments later. It was his twelfth victory in 2023. This took Team Jumbo-Visma's tally to 66 victories this season.

"It's a great feeling to win a stage this week”, Kooij said. "It was a tough finish. The climb was quite hard. I had a difficult moment, but the team's work allowed me to return to the peloton. I felt good and was able to start my sprint at a good moment. Fortunately, I could finish it off. I am very grateful to the guys for all their hard work. This is a real team victory”, Kooij said.

"We were waiting to see if there would be a bunch sprint today”, sports director Maarten Wynants added. "We let some other teams take the lead. During the stage, it became clear that many teams would benefit from a sprint. Olav struggled on the steep climb, but thanks to the excellent work of his teammates, he was able to sprint at the end of the stage. He then finished the stage well. After the disappointing results of the first two stages, this is a nice boost. It is fair to say that this is a victory for the whole team.”