Kristoff continues his winning ways in Hamburg

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Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) has been winning with ease in 2014 since his breakthrough victory at Milan-San Remo in the spring and two debut stage victories at the Tour de France.

The Norwegian has also picked up wins at the Uno-X Tour of Norway, Arctic Race of Norway and the Tour des Fjords which he also won overall. At the Vattenfall Cyclassics, Kristoff won his second German one-day race of the year having  won Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt in May.

Of the 22 races that the 27-year-old has won since turning pro, 14 of them have come in 2014.

Kristoff beat home Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek) and Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) to claim his second big one-day race win of the year after his Katusha team had worked hard to keep him safe throughout the 245km WorldTour event.

"I had Marco [Haller] and Pavel [Brutt] to keep me safe in the closing kilometers," Kristoff said of the finale. "In the last km we were a bit blocked but I managed to get to the front. With 300 meters to go I was really in the first position. I started my sprint a little bit slowly and gradually motored up so I was happy no one could come past me."

"I like racing here in Hamburg," he added. "I've done this race every year since I've been a pro and I've always liked this race even though I've never won before. But I finally made it, so for sure now it’s one of my favourite races."

Next up for Kristoff is the GP Ouest France-Plouay on Sunday, before he heads to the Canadian WorldTour races and then ends his season at the World Championships in Ponferrada.