Dutch sprinter Olav Kooij claimed a commanding victory on stage 5 of the Tour de France on Wednesday, winning the 158-kilometre stage from Lannemezan to Pau — in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques region of southwest France — in the race's first bunch sprint of this edition. The 24-year-old, riding for Decathlon-CMA CGM in his first-ever Tour appearance, crossed the line well clear of German Max Kanter in second and Belgian Tim Merlier in third. Norway's Torstein Traaen retained the overall race leader's yellow jersey despite being caught up in a late crash.

The stage was shaped by a lone breakaway from Frenchman Baptiste Veistroffer, who attacked from the gun and spent 143 kilometres riding solo at the front — a maximum lead of three and a half minutes was allowed before the sprinters' teams reeled him in with around 15 kilometres remaining. A crash at just over five kilometres from the finish then threw the final sprint into disarray, bringing down several riders including Dutchman Alex Molenaar and disrupting the lead-out trains of several top sprinters, including Jasper Philipsen, who lost key team-mate Mathieu van der Poel in the incident. With no team able to organise a controlled sprint, Kooij navigated the chaos expertly, timing his move at a bend 1.1 kilometres from the line and launching his sprint off the wheel of Kanter with unstoppable force.