Tour of Britain: Olav Kooij wins third consecutive stage and retains overall lead

Olav Kooij continued his brilliant start to the Tour of Britain by sprinting to a third straight win on stage three from Goole to Beverley.

The general classification leader held off fellow Dutchman Danny van Poppel and Britain’s Ethan Vernon.

The Jumbo Visma rider matches Edvald Boasson Hagen’s record of three straight stage wins in the 2009 event.

Britons Tom Pidcock and Robert Donaldson finished sixth and seventh respectively in a tight finish.

Kooij’s triumph followed a similar pattern to his wins in Wrexham on Monday and Manchester on Sunday, with the peloton reeling in a small breakaway group before a bunch sprint.

The 22-year-old, racing in his first Tour of Britain, once again relied on a devastating lead out from team-mate Wout Van Aert in the final kilometre.

After three bunch sprints Kooij is now tied with 55 other riders at the top of the general classification battle on time and leads because of his superior total in the points classification.

Wednesday’s 166.6km relatively flat stage from Sherwood Forest to Newark is expected to be another day for the sprinters.

“We actually miscalculated in those final kilometres, we thought the finish would be a bit earlier, but in the end we still managed to make it a hat-trick,” Kooij said.