Olaf Kooi (Jumbo Visma) will not be the main man when he makes his debut for the Dutch Senior Cycling World Championships next Sunday, but the young Dutch sprinter is quietly hoping he can do his part for the team on the road in Glasgow.

Cooey, who finished second in the opening group sprint at the Tour de Pologne in Poznan on Saturday, won by a wide margin in Opole on Tuesday. A special one-day race like the World Championships is different from a stage of the Tour de Pollogne."

"But a win is always a confidence booster.

Although Cooey has never competed in a senior road world championship, he has an impressive record in the equivalent under-23 competition, finishing fifth in 2022 and third in 2021. Furthermore, this spring in Ghent-Wevelgem, in his first race at the "world distance" of 260 km, Kooi finished an impressive 8th, suggesting that he is well capable of handling the length of the World Championships.

"Of course, we have some strong contenders like Mathieu van der Pol and Dylan van Baarle, as well as some one-day specialists.

"But it's also good to be in good shape. First of all, I focused on this race and tried to win a stage. It worked, so tomorrow I will ride one more day and aim for Glasgow."

Cooey's focus on the world championships began even before Tuesday's victory, when he was scheduled to retire on stage 5 and head to Scotland.

"That would give me three days to recover and that would be enough," he thought.

As for his role in the team strategy, rather than narrowing it down to one option, he sees multiple situations where he could be a useful cog in the machine in Holland's big plans for the World Championships.

"If the race were to open with some of the bigger nations early on, it might be beneficial for me to be in the front group. But if there is a break in the pack early in the race, I could move to the back of the pack. There are so many different scenarios in this race that we still need to talk about as a team."

Whatever happens, it is clear that Kooi is determined to make as big a contribution as possible on Sunday. And judging by his winning percentage at Pollogne and his past performance in one-day races, Cooey is likely to be able to fulfill whatever role he is asked to play.