Kristoff sees victory at home in Arctic Race of Norway

The 184.5k stage from Sjøvegan to Bardufoss was one Alexander Kristoff had his eye on and come Friday’s stage two, the Norwegian sprinter went about the work of getting the stage win, his first while wearing his new European champion jersey.

“For sure it is always nice to win at home. Yesterday I was close but did not have the legs at the end. Today we knew would be our best shot to win. BMC had to take control because they hold the leader’s jersey, so with some other teams we managed to bring the break back. We lost Sven Erik Bystrøm due to some technical issues so we only had Michael Mørkøv and Reto Hollenstein to do the lead outs but they did a really strong pull in the last k and then Michael led me out the last 500 meters, nice and smooth, to put me in the best position. At the end I felt there was no one close to me,” said Alexander Kristoff.

Alexander Kristoff’s time of 4:14:20 (43.526 km/h) was shared by the remainder of the podium, with Hugo Hofstetter of Cofidis and Andrea Pasqualon of Wanty-Groupe Gobert in second and third places. The general classification is still held by BMC’s Dylan Teuns. Today’s win puts Kristoff in third place overall.

“It’s nice to win like this. I think the whole team contributed really well to this victory. In my career I have won many times at home; I usually do have a victory here every year, but for sure it’s always nice. This is my first win in Norway this year and hopefully will not be my last,” said Alexander Kristoff.

Stage 3 on Friday features a category 1 climb at the end. At 185.5k, the stage begins in Lyngseidet and ends in Finnvikdalen (Tromsø).