CYCLING: Dutch debutant Kooij wins Tour de France stage five in chaotic finish

PAU, France — Dutch cyclist Olav Kooij captured his first Tour de France stage victory on his race debut after winning stage five on Wednesday, capitalizing on a late crash that split the peloton in the final kilometers.

The Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider won the 158.3-kilometer stage from Lannemezan to Pau in a sprint finish, crossing the line ahead of Germany's Max Kanter, while Belgium's Tim Merlier placed third.

Kooij said winning his first Tour de France stage at his first opportunity was a memorable achievement after several demanding days of racing.

A late crash with about 5.3 kilometers remaining disrupted the peloton and broke up several teams' lead-out trains, creating an opening that Kooij used to surge to victory from the reduced lead group.

Norway's Torstein Traeen retained the overall race lead and kept the yellow jersey despite being caught behind the incident. He finished in a group 14 seconds behind Kooij alongside defending champion Tadej Pogacar and other top general classification contenders, including Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, and Paul Seixas.

Traeen continues to lead the overall standings by 28 seconds over American Sean Quinn, while Czech rider Mathias Vacek remains third.

The stage had appeared headed for a routine bunch sprint after French rider Baptiste Veistroffer spent much of the day in a solo breakaway. However, the late crash dramatically altered the finish, allowing Kooij to seize the biggest victory of his career while the race's overall contenders remained largely unaffected in the general classification. -Reporting by Vincent Daheron; Writing by Karan Prashant Saxena in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Chopra and Clare Fallon/Reuters