Alexander Kristoff is hungry for more after Andalucia triumph: "I really want to reach 100 professional wins"

Stage 3 seemed like it could allow riders to recover some energy after two hard days in the saddle, but the shallow hills combined with heavy wind blows made once again for an attractive stage.

It was also thanks to relentless work of Uno-X Mobility that only around 40 riders remained at the front as peloton approached the arrival city of Pozoblanco. And their work paid off as Alexander Kristoff delivered a victory with a powerful sprint. "They did a good job," the Norwegian praised his teammates after the stage.

Unlike previous days, on Friday only three men were allowed in a breakaway, which played into the cards of Uno-X perfectly. "We didn't let the escapees get too far away," Kristoff analyzed what was the key to securing today's stage.

But the 37-year-old Kristoff still had a small dig at his teammates, who accordingly made some mistakes in the decisive moments when preparing the sprint. "Things went wrong in the last kilometers. My leadout men made two mistakes. It showed because they overtook the INEOS Grenadiers boys twice on the wrong side. So I had to come back from far away and it could have been easier today."

While the second half of the stage looked almost flat on paper, the short rolling climbs made for a substantially hard day out. And to make things even harded, the last kilometer was slightly uphill too, forcing Kristoff to dig deep for the victory. "The final was harder than I thought. It was really tough, my legs weren't very fresh anymore," he recalled.

Fourth in the last stage of the AlUla Tour a few days ago, Alexander Kristoff has been getting his points tally up quite quickly this season. Last year, he had to wait until May to win, at the Elfstedenronde Brugge. "It's nice to start the season like this. I really want to reach 100 professional wins. I have 97 today, so I have three more wins to win this season," he concluded with a smile on his face.