Kristoff: No one can help Gaviria more than me

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Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) at the start of stage 7(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

The news of Fernando Gaviria's mid-contract move from Quick-Step Floors to UAE Team Emirates reportedly took the team's main sprinter Alexander Kristoff by surprise. But the Norwegian who moved away from Katusha-Alpecin as the team brought in Marcel Kittel hopes he will still get consideration for the Tour de France as a lead-out man for the Colombian.

In an interview with Procycling.no, Kristoff says the Tour de France is the most important race for the team. Even if the team has limited spots as it may seek the general classification with a rider like Fabio Aru, Kristoff hopes he can earn a spot. "I don't know if anyone else in the team as of today can help Gaviria more than me. But I would prefer to race for my own chances of course," Kristoff said.

Kristoff says he feels that he is still good enough to win on his own. "I won the best-known sprint of the year, so it's not completely gone yet," he says, "But there are always strong new riders, so sometimes you have to step down and become a lead-out. I'm a little unsure if I'm ready for that. But if the team sends me to the Tour, I would like to make it as good as possible. It does not increase your market value to do a poor job."

He's always been more of a power sprinter than the quickest, and has never been as prolific as riders like Gaviria or Kittel when it comes to the Grand Tours. What he might lack in pure speed, he more than makes up for in strength. In this year's Tour, when the other top sprinters like Gaviria, Mark Cavendish, Andre Greipel, Kittel and Dylan Groenewegen dropped out in the Alpine stages, Kristoff was just starting to hit his stride, and scored two stage podiums before winning the final stage.