Early in the stage a group of several riders tried to break away from the peloton, but due to a lack of collaboration and a fairly high tempo in the peloton, they hardly succeeded. After a few dozen kilometers there was a climb and some of the sprinters were in difficulties. Kooij was well positioned at that point and survived the climb seemingly easily.

Ahead of an intermediate sprint, Christophe Laporte then crashed. The Frenchman was able to continue his way a few moments later, battered. In the closing stages of the stage, the frenzy in the peloton increased again after a group of four escaped. In the middle of the pack, a crash caused a stir, with Attila Valter one of the main riders involved. Valter, like Laporte, was able to complete the stage.

The peloton had to go all out in the final kilometers, but ended up being too late to catch the group of four. Kooij sprinted to ninth place, his third top ten ranking in a row.

Sports director Marc Reef gives his take on today's stage. "The stage initially went well for us. Olav was able to easily hold his on in the peloton on the first climb. In the hectic situation that ensued just before the intermediate sprint, Christophe crashed hard. Fortunately, he was able to continue his way and did not sustain any fractures. Attila also crashed, but the damage for him was limited to some scrapes. We tried to catch the breakaway by putting Edoardo Affini in front of the peloton, but to no avail. We can speak of a lesser day, but we have seen an upward trend with Olav. We can move forward with that," says Reef.

“It was a very tricky day,” said white jersey wearer Cian Uijtdebroeks afterwards. The youngster is still in fourth place in the general classification after stage five. “It's a shame that for Olav we didn't manage to grab the opportunity that was there. Even though there are a lot of sprint opportunities in this Giro d'Italia, it is and always will be a shame if you let one slip away. Tomorrow we will ride on gravel. I've never really done that before in competition, but I'm actually looking forward to it. I have also done a recon of the stage. We're going to make the most out of it again.”