For all Decathlon-CMA CGM invested over the past offseason into becoming a sprint powerhouse – bringing aboard speedster Olav Kooij, leadout riders like Cees Bol and Daan Hoole, and leadout legend Mark Renshaw as a sports director – the project was mired in uncertainty for several months at the start of the 2026 campaign.
Kooij, the rising star at the heart of it all, was waylaid by a virus in January, and his battle against the illness and fight to return to form forced him to miss months of racing. He didn't even make his first start of the season until late May, not exactly an ideal Tour build-up, and even when he took multiple wins in his limited appearances in May and June, it was not entirely certain that Decathlon would even take him to the race with Paul Seixas emerging as a GC racer.
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