Team Katusha’s Alexander Kristoff is so far one of the most successful riders of the year. In Al Mussanah Sports City the Norwegian rider took his fourth victory of the young 2015 season.

In Stage 3 of the Tour of Oman Kristoff was the fastest rider of the peloton beating in a mass sprint Andrea Guardini (Astana) and Matteo Pelucchi (IAM Cycling). Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis)  was fourth, Danny van Poppel (Trek) fifth. The sprint win was again a result of nice team work.

"The team protected me so well. Gatis Smukulis and Jacopo Guarnieri were the last guys to give me some shelter against the strong headwind. I was in a comfortable position in the last kilometer. Orica-GreenEdge started the sprint, Trek took over. I was in the wheel of Danny van Poppel with 300 meters to go but I waited till the last 100 meters to go full gas. It was a perfect sprint. The lead-out was like it has to be. We made a nice progress compared to the past. Every race is one step up. I am so happy with my lead out train," said Alexander Kristoff.

“We are working every day better and better in the lead-out and I’m very happy with how it is going. Before I was very often alone and that’s much harder. You see this year when I can get in a good position with some legs I can keep the fastest guys behind me.

“We signed Jacopo (Guarnieri) and he is really keeping the lead-out together and before we were blown away in some parts and now we really stick together.”

“Maybe sometimes I can be the fastest guy but not always. Cavendish, Greipel, Kittel and Guardini, when they’re in top shape I know that these guys are hard to beat. I know I want to improve my sprint and I have been training on this also, not only in the classics. I want to be good at two things, sprinting and classics.

“I am very happy about the sprints. I was hoping to be a bit better yesterday in the climbs so there I must work a bit more. (The) last day is a day that is possible but we still have to pass the climbs and yesterday that was too hard for me so I’m a little bit worried. Now it is two days for the climbers and we have Dani Moreno in a good position and Purito (Joaquim Rodríguez) can climb so we have guys for these days and we will try again on the last stage.

 “This is something different to the classics. Yesterday I was not there so I think the classics will be really hard but I hope to improve in the climbs in the next months.”

"It is a pleasure to guide this team here. The riders did exactly what we discussed before the stage. They did a smart race and came to the front exactly at the right moment. We knew that there was a strong head wind the last kilometers. The guys protected Kristoff, but Alex did a super effort himself too.Also for him it must have been hard against that wind. He is a strong guy," added Team DirectorTorsten Schmidt.

Stage 3 of the Tour of Oman with start and finish in Al Mussanah Sports City (158,5 km) had a predictable scenario. A break of three riders was neutralized and no other rider was able to get away from the peloton heading to the finish with an extremely high pace. In the end the mass sprint was inevitable, with Katusha’s Alexander Kristoff as best sprinter.

Tomorrow’s stage 4 is the Tour of Oman’s queen’s stage with mountaintop finish in Jabar al Akhdhar, on the famous Green Mountain.