Dutch rider Kooij wins stage 5 of the Tour while Traeen keeps leader’s yellow jersey

PAU, France (AP) — Dutch rider Olav Kooij won the fifth stage of the Tour de France in a sprint finish on Wednesday, while Norwegian rider Torstein Traeen kept the yellow jersey on a day when the peloton largely took it easy.

Kooij was put in a strong position to attack by his Decathlon CMA CGM teammates and held off German Max Kanter and Belgian Tim Merlier in a dash to the line. They all finished in just under 3 1/2 hours.

“After a couple of hard days here I had to wait for this day to get (a) first chance to sprint in the Tour, and to immediately win is unbelievable,” the 24-year-old Kooij said. “It was quite an easy day until the final (moments), when you know it will be hectic. Everyone is still really eager and I just managed to find my way.”

It was first stage win on the Tour for Kooij, who has won three stages on the Giro d’Italia.

Traeen rolled over the line 14 seconds later in a big main group containing defending champion Tadej Pogacar and fellow Tour contender Jonas Vingegaard. They both trail Traeen by about eight minutes in the standings. But Traeen, who took the yellow jersey on Stage 4, is not considered a contender for overall victory.

After a testing team time trial, an early mountain stage, raging wildfires and sweltering temperatures hitting 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit), riders appreciated Wednesday’s flatter fifth stage.

The 158.3-kilometer route from Lannemezan to Pau in southwestern France was made for sprinters.

It meant that Traeen’s Uno-X Mobility team did not have to chase down any breakaway riders potentially in contention to take the yellow jersey from him, and that four-time Tour champion Pogacar and two-time champion Vingegaard could save vital energy for the days ahead.

Starting with Stage 6 on Thursday, where they are expected to attack each other on in the high Pyrenees mountains, and where Traeen could well lose the leader’s jersey.

Riders were reluctant to form a breakaway group on Stage 5, so Frenchman Baptiste Veistroffer surged ahead alone until he was finally caught by the peloton with 13 kilometers remaining.

Tortuous Tourmalet awaits

Stage 6 is a 186.2 kilometer trek starting with two moderate climbs before riders tackle Col d’Aspin — a mountain pass with a Category 1 rating, which is the second-hardest level on the Tour — followed by a grueling 17.1 kilometer ascent up Col du Tourmalet.

Tourmalet is among the most famed Pyrenean climbs on the Tour and is rated as HC, which means Hors Catégorie (beyond classification), because it is the hardest level.

A thrilling finish could be in store between Vinegaard and Pogacar given that the stage then ends with another climb, a 18.7 kilometer Category 2-level trek to the finish at Gavarnie-Gèdre.

Pogacar launched several devastating early attacks on the big climbs during a dominant Tour win last year, and Vingegaard could not follow his rival. ___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports