Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) has described his recent run of form at the cobbled Classics as a ‘dream come true’. The Tour of Flanders champion claimed his sixth win in eight days after taking victory from a crash-reduced group at Scheldeprijs. Aside from the final time trial at the Three Days of De Panne, Kristoff has won everything he has entered in the past week – including the overall classification in De Panne.
“It’s a dream come true. If you see my results it’s quite steady, from year to year a little bit better and not a big jump,” Kristoff said during his post-race press conference. “I’m little bit surprised by how this run is going… I didn’t expect it. When I turned pro it was really difficult for me, I was not even close. I think it was my first top 10 result as a pro in this race actually.” [Kristoff took 10th at Scheldeprijs in 2010 – ed].”
The last few days have been a whirlwind for Kristoff, following his Tour of Flanders victory. He had a chance to rest up on Monday but took some time out of his schedule to meet his fan club at Kafee Sultan in Wervik, down the road from the team’s hotel in Kortrijk. The media attention has been significantly higher too and the Belgian press have been dubbing him the next Tom Boonen, but three days on from his commanding win in Oudenaarde the result is still sinking in.
ADVERTISEMENT
“I cannot really describe how big it feels but for me it was a childhood dream that came true,” said Kristoff. “I think it will be even bigger when I look back at my career and see this race again. In the future it will be a great memory, like when I got my bronze medal at the Olympics. At the time it didn’t feel so big but when I look back it was a big moment in my career and my life.”
Kristoff’s season tally now stands at 11 victories, just three less than he scored in the whole of 2014. Of the WorldTour riders, only Richie Porte (Team Sky) can get close with his seven wins. It’s an astonishing run of form but, according to Kristoff’s coach, there is still more to come from the Norwegian - an ominous thought for his rivals. He believes that his step up in level is down to the team that surrounds him.
“I think the team do a great job to deliver me into position and keep me out of trouble and also keep me out of the wind so I have fresh legs at the end. That’s also the main difference this year to last year. Last year I was not so much weaker than this year but I had less support in the sprint. Now I have more support in the sprint so then I also get a lot more victories,” he said. “I didn’t have this before so maybe I could have won more.”
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/1y6A2z0
No comments:
Post a Comment