What are summer plans (read: Tour plans) of Olav Kooij? "Look, at first it was out of the question that I would participate"

Exactly one month after his stage victory in the Giro d'Italia and his withdrawal that quickly followed, Olav Kooij is back in the saddle. The 22-year-old sprinter from Visma | Lease a Bike starts on Wednesday in the Baloise Belgium Tour, where he gets three great sprint opportunities. What follows next in the summer? That remains uncertain, the Dutchman shared the day before his comeback with IDLProCycling.com.

"To see Naples and die." It's a well-known expression, which, with a bit of imagination, applied to Kooij. The speedy rider from the Netherlands competed in his first grand tour, had a nasty fall early on, and eventually made his mark in Campania. However, the situation looked quite different the day after, on the rest day, as Kooij fell ill and did not start again after the first rest day of the Giro.

How is he doing now? "Initially, it was mostly about recovering, but then it was quickly a matter of rebuilding and seeing when I could return to racing. The last two weeks have gone increasingly well, so here we are," he sums up. Colleague Cian Uijtdebroeks mentioned something like pneumonia, but it wasn't that severe for Kooij. "But it did come from the respiratory tract. I caught something that caused me to have a fever for a day, which lasted a while."

"It was a rollercoaster," he reflects on the mix of a stage win and an early exit in his first grand tour. "You go from a major high to a significant low. But when you're sick, all you can focus on is getting better," he wisely points out, understanding that dwelling on what might have been in the Giro is fruitless.

In June, as the Baloise Belgium Tour starts, Kooij will compete against sprinters like Jasper Philipsen, Fabio Jakobsen, and Tim Merlier. How does he stack up? "It's tough to say. I wouldn't want to put a percentage on it. We'll see how it unfolds during the race, but there are some great opportunities in a competitive sprint field. So I'm heading into it feeling optimistic, especially about the sprint stages."

Before and after Kooij's illness, Visma | Lease a Bike was repeatedly hit by misfortune, making him a potential option for the Tour team. Tom Dumoulin spoke about including Kooij, which he referred to as 'plan-D'. "Kooij isn’t exactly a helper, you know. You don’t put Kooij in the lead. That means you have one less helper for the GC. I think they’d only take Kooij if it’s really uncertain how Vingegaard will be going into the Tour, or if he doesn’t go at all. Then, the young Kooij could potentially save the Tour by winning a stage," said the rider from Limburg.

How much does Kooij himself consider a Tour de France selection? "Look, initially, of course, it was out of the question that I would participate. But everyone knows what has happened since then and what happened to the team. It’s not the most likely scenario, but you never know. I'm definitely ready to race, and if it turns out to be the case, then it’s up to me to be ready for that too," he says about the Tour, knowing it ultimately depends on the condition of a few other guys and that his chances are not too great.

This leaves him somewhat uncertain about his races in the coming months. "I must say I haven’t really looked at a main goal for the second half of the year, or the schedule in general. First this race and the National Championships, then we'll see what comes next," Kooij admits honestly.

One race he definitely won’t be participating in is the Olympic Games. "Of course, I would have loved to go to the Olympics. It wasn’t an easy choice because we only have three spots. The selection makes sense, but speaking for myself: I would have liked to be there," says Kooij, who understands the decision from Koos Moerenhout to some extent. "With Mathieu van der Poel, you have the top favorite, so it's logical to focus on how best to support him. This approach is more controlled and supportive."