In the opening hours, Team Visma | Lease a Bike was always well represented at the head of the race. However, the peloton never gave the attackers much space. Towards the finale, Bart Lemmen formed a significant breakaway together with Bauke Mollema and Jelte Krijnsen. Moments later, the trio was caught by several chasers, including Mick van Dijke. Kooij remained patient in the peloton, surrounded by three teammates.

In a nervous final part of the race, some riders - including Van Dijke - tried their luck with an ultimate effort, but the expected group sprint in Arnhem could not be avoided. In the chaotic sprint, Kooij eventually had to come from too far away to have a shot at victory. He had to settle for the silver medal, behind winner Groenewegen.

"Groenewegen started his sprint early, which surprised me somewhat”, Kooij responded. "He immediately gained a few metres and I immediately felt I was unable to make up for it. I had to close a lot of metres, but unfortunately I didn't have the legs for that."

"I'm disappointed, yes. We came here to take the national jersey. Although we definitely rode a good race as a team. By always having someone at the front, we were in control of the race. We tried to exploit our numerical advantage in various ways, but it's a shame that there was little coordination in the end."