Olav Kooij took a big career win, and the first of his 2023 season, at the end of stage 4 at Paris Nice today on a day when Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) reached for another gear in the sprint and found it wasn't there.
While Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) looked like he was the fastest man in the sprint to the line into Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux, the Belgian champion started his effort too far back and had to settle for 3rd place.
Kooij benefitted from strong support from his Jumbo Visma team, with Edoardo Affini doing a very strong final pull until about 200 metres to go. Once he swing over, stage 2 winner Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) pulled the trigger, only for Kooij (21) to come off his wheel and win.
Pedersen was 2nd, with Merlier 3rd, Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) 4th, Max Kanter (Movistar Team) 5th, Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) 6th with Bennett 7th.
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The Irishman got a good lead-out from Danny van Poppel but when his work was done, Bennett started his sprint. However, he simply did not have the power in his legs to make an impact on what was the last chance for sprinters on Paris-Nice 2023.
Rolf Aldag, Bora-hansgrohe sports director, said Bennett had been suffering from unspecified health issues on the race.
“The sprinter teams didn't let a larger group go today and ensured that the fast men got their last chance," Aldag said. "In the technical and tricky finale, positioning was the key to success today. Danny van Poppel did a good lead out but unfortunately Sam Bennett isn’t 100 per cent healthy, which is why he ultimately didn't have the necessary punch.”
There was no change today with the yellow jersey as yesterday's stage winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) held onto the race lead with three harder stages to come. However, 2nd placed overall David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) claimed some bonus seconds today, closing the gap to Pogačar by four seconds, to six seconds.
