It was a successful 2016 Tour des Fjords for Alexander Kristoff and Team KATUSHA. Winning three of five stages, the general classification and the points jersey were the culmination of dedicated work throughout the week.
- We almost passed by house today and I know all of the roads in this area. My teammates did everything I wanted and did an amazing job, especially Anton Vorobyev and Dmitriy Kozonchuk who were pulling all day. In the end Michael Mørkøv and I continued on, too. Michael did a perfect lead out and it’s good to see him in such great shape again. All this week we worked so hard for this and I’m just really happy right now, - said Alexander Kristoff, who became the most winning rider of the season with 13 victories so far.
The final stage on Sunday was a straight up sprint with a perfect lead out from teammate Michael Mørkøv - so perfect in fact that behind winner Alexander Kristoff was Mørkøv for second place. Third place went to Kristoffer Halvorsen of Team Joker-Byggtorget, all on the same time of 3:47.01 for the 166 km stage from Hinna Park to Kristoff’s city of Stavanger.
- We can leave Norway really happy and proud for our six riders. They all did a fantastic job. From our winner Kristoff to the lead out guys, to the workers like Anton Vorobyev and Dima Kozonchuk, it was a really, really great week. We won three stages, the GC and the points jersey. Some of our adversaries were very strong and they were very well prepared, as were the Scandinavian teams who are always very motivated in this race. But on the long third stage with the rain, two climbs in the middle and then the impressive last 15 km with Alex, that was the key point. Today it’s nice and sunny, so to win on home roads with a nice lead out and second place for Mørkøv is very nice for the boys, - said sports director Torsten Schmidt.
Kristoff won the general classification by 30-seconds to Michael Schar (BMC) and Nick van der Lijk of Roompot-Oranje Peloton.
With today’s successes Team KATUSHA reached the number of 25 victories in the season.
