Olav Kooij (Decathlon CMA CGM) proved the fastest finisher on the 2026 Tour de France's first sprint stage in Pau, sprinting home from a much-reduced group of fastman to take a stage win on his debut.

The Dutchman outpaced Max Kanter to the line after the German's XDS-Astana team controlled the lead-out in the final kilometre, while Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) rounded out the podium in third place.

The trio were part of a group of 20 at the front when the sprint was launched, with much of the peloton dropping back to stay safe as the sprinters battled it out.

Soudal-QuickStep and Alpecin-Premier Tech controlled the race for much of the 158.3km stage, but their sprinters had no teammates for company in the final kilometre, with several QuickStep names having been caught in a crash at 5.5km to go.

Instead, it was XDS-Astana who led it out, with Aaron Gate and Mike Teunissen hoping to launch Kanter after they had done so successfully at the day's intermediate sprint.

Kooij had other ideas, though. The 24-year-old shared Kanter's wheel with Huub Artz (Lotto-Intermarché) before launching himself past and well into the lead on the closing straight. Nobody else could match his closing pace, and so he won with ease as Artz took fourth ahead of Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Biniam Girmay (NSN), and green jersey Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek).

"After a couple hard days here already, we had to wait to this day to get this first chance to sprint in the Tour, and to immediately win is unbelievable," Kooij said after the stage.

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"It means quite a lot. I think just in general, I had a pretty tough spring, and I think just to get back to this level and to keep believing and in yourself, and just a few people who believe in you as well, is all you need.

"I think to be here with support of the team today was all I could ask for, and they did a great job, but it was pretty hectic. It was quite an easy day until the final, so then you know it will be hectic. And this first sprint in the Tour, everyone is still really eager.

"I just managed to find my way a bit on my own in the end, but I found the right wheel, and I just wanted to have the chance to sprint today, and when I saw the line, I just went as hard as I could."

The Tour's first sprint stage saw no changes at the top of the GC standings, with race leader Torstein Træen (Uno-X Mobility) and the major contenders all finishing in the peloton 14 seconds down on the lead sprint group.

One-man show for 144km

The first proper sprint stage of the Tour de France took the riders on a flat 158.3km route from Lannemezan to Pau, with just one hill – the third-category Côte de Baleix (1km at 8.8%) – lying 25.6km from the finish line.

Following Mads Pedersen's breakaway triumph in Foix on Tuesday, this stage was always going to be one for the sprinter's teams with little action before the final kilometres.

The riders clearly thought that, too, as there was no fight whatsoever over the breakaway of the day. Instead, Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarché) jumped clear of the peloton on his own in the opening kilometre of the stage.

The 26-year-old Frenchman, a breakaway winner at the Tour of Oman earlier this year, had no chance at repeating the feat here.

Back in the peloton, it was Uno-X Mobility who took up the job of pacemaking early in the day, before Alpecin-Premier Tech took over. Veistroffer's advantage was four minutes at his peak, but it settled at around the three-minute mark for much of the stage.

There was precious little to talk about before the day's only intermediate sprint at Vic-en-Bigorre, 45km from the line. Veistroffer, still 2:35 up the road, took the maximum 25 points there.

Behind him, XDS-Astana ran a lead-out for Kanter, who took 20 points for second place, while Pedersen took third on 16 points ahead of Girmay on 14 and Philipsen on 12.

Soudal-QuickStep, working for their sprinter Merlier, gave Alpecin-Premier Tech some respite after the sprint, the Belgian team leading the peloton towards the finish and taking Veisttroffer's advantage down to the minute mark with 30km to go.

The Frenchman continued to lead over the Côte de Baleix, while behind him Kasper Asgreen (EF Education-EasyPost), Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-Quickstep) attacked from the peloton.

The trio's move livened up the stage for a short while, but they were brought back with 17.5km to go, while Veistroffer continued just 10 seconds up on the peloton, now led by Alpecin-Premier Tech and Soudal-QuickStep.

Cofidis were among the other teams to work on the front on the run-in to Pau as Uno-X Mobility also got involved. At 5.5km from the line, a crash in the peloton took out numerous riders,

No big sprint or GC names were caught up in the fall, though Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla) and several of Tim Merlier's lead-out men were involved.

It was Uno-X Mobility who led a reduced peloton into the closing kilometres, while a split in the peloton saw their man Torstein Træen and most of the race's non-sprinters drop back.

XDS-Astana and Cofidis hit the front for the final kilometre, with the Kazakhstani squad leading out the finishing sprint from a much-reduced group of only around 20 or so riders.

They wouldn't repeat that feat, however, with Kooij, who hadn't sprinted at the intermediate sprint, instead saving himself for the finish to great effect.

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