Numbers, curiosities and statistics help us re-read and delve deeper into what we experienced in yesterday's stage. Follow us:

1: EXCELLENT START!
Olav Kooij opens his score at the Tour de France... and makes his mark on his first participation! He was the fastest on the roads of Pau, so the 24-year-old Decathlon CMA CGM rider imitates Mexican Isaac del Toro, also a debutant on the roads of the Grande Boucle and winner of the second stage in Barcelona. Kooij also gave the Netherlands their 171st victory on the roads of the Tour.

4: ANOTHER GRAND TOUR
Kooij's collection of successes in the grand tours grows. Beyond his victory in Pau, Olav Kooij has already raised his arms three times at the Giro. In Italy, the Dutchman won in Naples in 2024, before doubling his tally the following year in Viadana and finally winning in the capital, Rome.

22: A LONG WAIT
It's an image we haven't seen in 22 years. In 2004 in Wasquehal, Jean-Patrick Nazon signed what was, until Olav Kooij's success, the last victory in a bunch sprint at the Tour for the AG2R La Mondiale team, now called Decathlon CMA CGM. At the time, the Frenchman had the luxury of beating a certain Erik Zabel. Kooij thus ended a long drought for the Savoyard team, which also achieved the 23rd victory in its history on the Grande Boucle, the same total as British Netcompany Ineos.

7: KOOIJ JOINS VAN DER POEL'S TABLE
For the seventh time out of 64 finishes, the Netherlands have conquered the finish line in Pau. In this historic Tour de France city, Olav Kooij joins his compatriots Theo Middelkamp (1938), Henk Lubberding (1978), Gerrie Knetemann (1980), Erik Breukink (1987), Adrie Van der Poel (1988) and Leon Van Bon (1998) in the list of winners. But with seven victories, the Dutch are still far from France (18) and Italy (12), the two most successful countries in the city of Henry IV.

16: GERMANY HAS ITS SAY IN THE SPRINTS
Max Kanter, 28 years old, perpetuates German sprint culture. By finishing second in the bunch sprint in Pau, the XDS Astana rider achieved his country's sixteenth podium in similar stage finishes at the Tour. The last victory dates back to 2017 and bears the signature of Marcel Kittel. Since that day, Germany has collected five second places and ten third places in compact sprints.

1992: SPRINTERS FINALLY HAVE SPACE
After a hilly start and then mountainous terrain in the eastern Pyrenees, the sprinters smiled again yesterday with the first bunch sprint of this edition. You have to go back to the 1992 Tour to find such a long wait for the specialists of the final straight: that year, between winning breakaways on flat stages and three time trials, the sprinters had to wait until the tenth stage! Jean-Paul Van Poppel, another Dutchman, won in Strasbourg, beating Djamolidine Abdoujaparov.

144: ALONE IN THE WORLD
A reckless attacker and accustomed to long-distance raids, Baptiste Veistroffer once again made his way solo between Lannemezan and Pau. The Lotto – Intermarché rider pedaled for 144 km in the wind, with the peloton on his heels. He thus slightly surpassed Norwegian Jonas Abrahamsen, author of a solo incursion of 141 km between Semur-en-Auxois and Colombey-les-Deux-Églises during the eighth stage of 2024. But his performance was not enough to imitate Christophe Agnolutto, the last rider to complete a solo breakaway of over 100 kilometers. In 2000, the Frenchman had resisted victoriously after 120 km to triumph on the roads of Limoges.