Alexander Kristoff emerged in the last three weeks as one of the most versatile sprinters in the bunch to hand Team Katusha two stage wins and a rather fruitful Tour de France.
The Norwegian outshone Marcel Kittel or Andre Greipel in St Etienne and Nîmes to confirm his Milan-San Remo victory was no fluke and he seems in a good enough condition to be a contender in the two flat stages left in the race, in Bergerac tomorrow and on the Champs-Elysees on Sunday.
The relative disappointment for the Russian team is to have been unable to play a major role in the race for the GC because of the average form of Joaquim Rodriguez, injured after crashes in Amstel Gold Race and the Giro.
Purito, who aims at being back to usual form in the next Vuelta, found another motivation for this Tour in the quest for the polka-dot jersey but saw his hopes quashed by Vincenzo Nibali but also Poland's Rafal Majka, the new climbing sensation.
"Joaquim is still on his way to finding top condition and we are happy he tried to do something in this race," team director Torsten Schmidt said.
20.03: Classic Brugge-De Panne |
21.03: Classic Brugge-De Panne |
21.03: GP Goriska & Vipava Valley |
22.03: E3 Saxo Classic |
19.03 - 23.03: Settimana Coppi e Bartali |
18.03 - 24.03: Volta Ciclista a Catalunya |
20.03 - 24.03: Volta ao Alentejo |
20.03 - 24.03: Olympia's Tour |
23.03 - 24.03: Tour du Bocage et de l'Ernée 5... |
24.03: Gent-Wevelgem |
Emanuele VONA 41 years | today |
Allison ARENSMAN 30 years | today |
Yuto TAKAHASHI 27 years | today |
Vittoria BUSSI 37 years | today |
Maeva SQUIBAN 22 years | today |
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