Kristoff is back in business, Boasson Hagen too

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Away from racing since Paris-Roubaix, Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) showed no loss in shape and sprinting expertise as he clinched stage 1 in the Tour of Norway. He outsprinted Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhubeka), the other Norwegian back after a long break.

"Even though I felt a bit heavy today, I knew from last year when I won in Frankfurt that I was able to win again after a break and a good training but no racing in my legs," Kristoff told Cyclingnews in Sarpsborg where he already won stage 1 two years ago.

This slightly uphill final stretch in Korsgata street obviously suits him but he was also aware of the difficulty to catch the breakaway riders.

He remembered very well that one year ago, UnitedHealthcare’s Marc de Maar and eventual overall winner Maciej Paterski of CCC stayed away. This time around, the last survivor, Vegard Stake Laengen (Joker), got caught with only 400 metres to go.

He was part of a five-man breakaway group that took off after 25km of racing, comprising Antonio Molina (Caja Rural), Nikola Aistrup (Riwal), Sebastian Balck (Tre Berg-Bianchi) and Oscar Landa (Coop-Øster Hus). They got a maximum lead of 7:30. Their initiative was invigorated by the input of a Lotto-Soudal duo formed of Pim Ligthart and Sean de Bie as they approached the final circuit.

"We almost didn’t catch them," Kristoff said. "Had we let them up the road for 10 more seconds we wouldn’t have come across. To do that, we had to use all the guys although we would have preferred to keep Sven-Erik Bystrøm for the overall classification. We had considered those two options at the pre race meeting as we knew it’s always difficult to close the gap on such a technical circuit."

Runner-up Ewan noted that the peloton nearly brought the break back several times, but then let the escapees go again.

"It was almost too late in the end," Ewan said. "We caught them just before the line. The sprint was a bit messy. I thought I had a pretty good sprint but Kristoff was always going to be hard to beat in a finish like that. Boasson Hagen went a bit early and I went behind him. It was quite an ideal scenario but I probably wasn’t strong enough.

"Obviously I can’t come into my first year as a professional and be beating guys who are the best in the world, like [Mark] Cavendish in Turkey and Kristoff here, but it’s a good sign that I’m close to them so when I’ll get a bit stronger, I should be able to win," Ewan said.

Possibly the biggest news of the day was Boasson Hagen’s return to a winning shape at his come-back race after he fractured his right collarbone at Gent-Wevelgem.

"I opened my sprint too early," said the fast man from Lillehammer whose hometown isn’t on the course of the Tour of Norway this year at the difference of the past few editions. "It’s hard with the timing at the first race back but I’m pretty happy with my form. I’m back so I’m hoping to get some good results by the end of the week."

Kristoff added that he was particularly hungry for winning because Cavendish had passed him on the tally of the most successful pro cyclists this year. At the Tour of California, the Manxman reached thirteen successes on Sunday. With twelve now, the hero of the Tour of Flanders looks like he’s likely to catch up very quickly.

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