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.
17.04 - 21.04: Tour de Tunisie |
18.04 - 21.04: Eroica Juniores |
19.04 - 21.04: EPZ Omloop van Borsele |
20.04 - 21.04: Gipuzkoa Klasika |
21.04: Liège-Bastogne-Liège |
21.04: Giro della Romagna |
21.04: Gent-Wevelgem U23 |
21.04: EPZ Omloop van Borsele |
21.04: Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes |
21.04: Gent-Wevelgem Junior |
Dominik Jedrzej RATAJCZAK 20 years | today |
Katie SCOTT 23 years | today |
Iker AZKARATE 30 years | today |
Anna FAORO 27 years | today |
Zenya KATAGIRI 30 years | today |
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