Two weeks into his February 'Grand Tour', Alexander Kristoff and his UAE Team Emirates squad finally got their timing right on the final stage of the Tour of Oman. Kristoff has been close to victory several times since he began his year at the Dubai Tour but he had not taken a top-three result before Sunday's stage to the Matrah Corniche.
The Norwegian said that poor positioning and timing from the team and himself had played a big part in putting him out of contention in the sprints over the past two weeks. Having won on the waterfront to the south of Muscat before, he knew exactly what was needed to nail the stage win.
"I've been up in the mix but I haven't really been able to fight for the win in the last sprints. The legs have been good but I haven't really been able to get into position," he said at the finish.
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"I've not been happy with that but we had some issues with the team coming to the front at the right moment. This morning we had a good meeting because I have already won here three times before so I knew exactly how I wanted it.
"I explained to the guys which moment they needed to move and they did it really well. The guys did it exactly how we planned, and I even had Rui Costa in the lead-out there in the final and he did a perfect job. I don't think that he's done that many lead-outs in his life, but when he did, it was a good one. The other guys did an amazing job today and I'm happy how we rode as a team today."
February Grand Tour
The Tour of Oman is nothing new on Kristoff's calendar. He is one of only two riders to have ridden every edition and is the record holder for number of stage wins at the race. The six-day event, however, is part of a bigger change to his programme that has him racing all three Middle Eastern races throughout February. This means that he will miss the Classics opening weekend at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne with his European debut at Paris-Nice this season.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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