Dutch sprint monster Olaf Kooij came close to his first win of 2023 at the UAE Tour on Thursday, but the young Dutchman lost out to rival Juan Sebastian Morano in a mixed group sprint in Dubai Bay, finishing second ...

Second place was no disgrace, but as Cooey noted after the race, this group sprint was "very different from the rest of the race."

And unlike Monday's Echelon Fest, there was little wind.

Many of the top fast men were shaken off or caught up and did not even make the top 10 in the first group sprint on Thursday.

But only one result matters in a sprint, and Cooey insisted on surpassing his second place in Dubai Bay as quickly as possible.

"It was a very easy day, and on roads like this it usually ends up being a pretty hectic sprint," the Jumbo-Visma rider told a small group of reporters after the race.

"I had to find a wheel. I was on Sam Welsford's wheels and I thought I was slowly moving up the order. But then Morano passed me.

Kooi agreed that the collective sprint in the UAE was radically different from Europe.

"There's a lot of space, so timing is crucial. It's always a bit of a gamble."

"In a sprint like this, you have to adapt and react because things change so quickly. You also need to trust your feelings."

In a sprint where many riders straddled the line, Cooey said he felt Welsford was next to him, but did not know Morano was there.

"In a finish like this, with so many lead-out teams ahead, it's probably different too; the sprint in the UAE is not comparable to any other race. [Late in the season] the riders are on different programs and not everyone is in the same Grand Tour."

Still, it is clear that Couto is in good form and has two more chances if he wants to win his 16th professional race. He also knows about the Abu Dhabi breakwater finish in 2022, where he finished fourth behind Mark Cavendish.

"I started in Valencia this year and it wasn't a sprinter-friendly race," he said. 'But here, there are a lot of good sprinters, so you know where you are right away. I felt good in the first stage, but today I needed to finish perfectly to win."