Alexander Kristoff is hungry for more after Andalucia triumph: "I really want to reach 100 professional wins"
Cycling
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.
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- poor kid, saddled with all that “next mvdp” crap. eeesh…OCexile03-04-2025
- I don't think so, maybe in a different GT, not in the Tour. Last year, to be 3rd, he would have to be better than Remco. And he wasn't, on any terrainvappaxbipmv03-04-2025
- Or sprinting, or against wind. I think by now they’ve optimised the tire tech and pressures to largely smooth out rider weight effects. BUT, I’m going to go through past podiums to see what weight distribution trends are to be spotted coz I’m curious now.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- I also wasn’t too impressed by the final lead out, they’ve got to practice that, Wout had far too long to ride alone but then again it seemed as if the lead-outs had themselves run out of steam too early which is what makes me believe none of them could have won, Powfull looked totally fresh and in the end it was just a case of him being stronger than the others, not much you can do against that, just like you can’t outdo MVDP in the end when he’s in shape.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- Exactly, a rider (or sprinter in athletics) can’t even tell themselves when it will happen until it does. Obviously if you have an idea that could happen, you should maybe envisage testing your theory with perhaps an small sharp attack well before race-end.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- Yes but 20 minutes as a domestique isn’t 20 minutes as a leader, and you know as well as anybody that Pog winning is in no way a guarantee. Granted, neither Pog nor Remco nor Jinas nor Primoz or some more winning starts to seem far-fetched but a podium would certainly be targetable if he doesn’t have to worry about Jonas.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- The final appeal he lost against his old team for « breaking » his contract.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- How exactly is that a good thing on cobbles or flat? Lower weight is only beneficial on a climbvappaxbipmv03-04-2025
- I said much better, not better. He probably will improve but right now he needs about 20 minutes of free time to win the Tour against Pogacar. And the was offered leadership in Giro and other races but turned it downvappaxbipmv03-04-2025
- If niermann this he can predict cramps, that would be helpful for a lot of people around the world. It was the standard strategy for Benoot and Jorgensen to attack and they should haveabstractengineer03-04-2025