His teammates protected him throughout the day’s racing that included a trio of categorized climbs and set him up for the finale. Hitting the flamme rouge, Marijn positioned himself near the front of the bunch and bided his time, always staying in the first five wheels. The road began to kick uphill in the final few hundred meters, just as Marijn launched his sprint. His power never wavered and the competition never caught him. Marijn crossed the finish line, throwing his arms behind him, and unleashed a satisfied yell in celebration.

La Route d’Occitanie is a race Marijn always looks forward to. In 2023, he won the opening stage, led the general classification for two stages, and took the sprinter’s jersey.

“It is nice to have a second victory here after two years,” Marijn said. “I think we were always in control. We rode the front to make sure that the break couldn't go too far. I felt pretty good on the climbs, even though they went pretty fast. With the heat, it was still quite hard, but I'm happy with the legs. In the finale, it's always stressful in a sprint like this, but our team put me on a good wheel and then I could finish it off. I think I did a good sprint.”

When the race hits the mountains tomorrow, tackling the Col du Tourmalet, the squad’s focus will pivot to supporting our climbers Hugh Carthy and Alexander Cepeda, but the Dutch sprinter has his eyes on the final stage.

“I will try,” he said. “Two years ago, I was third in the stage, and my brother was second. I think it was different then. I was in the break and I survived the climbs and I got in a small group and got to it, but... yeah, it’s a way off. I'm already happy. I got one victory here.”

A big congrats to Marijn and the squad on today’s win!