Alexander Kristoff realized a dream when he won today's stage 12 of the Tour de France with a powerful sprint finish. Having won Milan-Sanremo earlier this year, however, the Norwegian insists that this is only the second biggest victory of his career.

There was plenty of celebrating on the line for Katusha’s Alexander Kristoff as he took a well-deserved victory in Thursday’s stage 12 of the Tour de France. Kristoff patiently waited for the perfect moment to begin his sprint, coming up the right side of the course along the white center line and holding off all others to claim a spectacular victory in Saint-Étienne. Aided by teammates Luca Paolini and Aleksandr Porsev, Kristoff earned his first stage win in the Tour de France. It was his tenth seasonal victory and first in a Grand Tour.

"It’s a great feeling," he said "I’ve been dreaming about this day since I was a child. I’ve had some second places this year and also last year, but to finally achieve a first is fantastic.

"My teammate Luca did a great job keeping me in the front and then at the end I also had Porsev but we lost each other in the last corners so I was sitting on (Matteo) Trentin for the last 500 meters. I was waiting and waiting but then I saw (John) Degenkolb go and knew I had to go also. I was so happy when I saw no one could pass me.  We will have some champagne tonight but tomorrow is a hard stage so we won’t have too much of a party."

Claiming second and third behind Kristoff were Peter Sagan of Cannondale and Arnaud Demare (FDJ.fr). With the sprint finish there was no change on the general classification and Vicenzo Nibali (Astana) still holds the race lead by 2.23 to Richie Porte (Sky) and 2.47 to Alejandro Valverde of Movistar.

Team Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez continues to ride in the polka dot jersey as the best climber and will look to extend his lead in the upcoming Alp stages on Friday and Saturday. 

"The team was really fantastic today," Kristoff said. "The stage was hard with all these climbs and the team did an incredible job to protect me during the race, especially on the final climb, where the pace was very high. I want to thank all the team, who supported me and trusted me.

"Yesterday was the day I took it easy. I had this stage in my mind, so I decided not to push yesterday and to save my legs. I knew today’s stage could suit me and maybe this strategy helped me. Today I was fresh. I felt the power in my legs and I had not one bad moment during the stage.

“I still believe Milan-San Remo is a bigger win. It's a one-day classic. Here at the Tour there are twenty one stages. But I've always dreamt of winning a stage at the Tour de France, so it's the second biggest win of my career today.

"I knew this morning there was a possibility to win. Yesterday, I took it easy because I wanted to be in full capacity today. I saved my legs. I tried absolutely nothing yesterday and I still felt good in the climbs today. I never reached my limits.

"However, I was a bit nervous before the sprint. I was afraid of being boxed in. In fact, I lost my team-mates Luca Paolini and Alexander Porsev. Many teams tried to go to the front but I realized that Matteo Trentin had the best lead out, so I took his wheel. That was a good move. I started my sprint exactly where I wanted. I did the right thing.

"I hope it's crazy in Norway tonight and it's party time in the whole country. It's funny to hear that some people cried because I didn't cry. It's a good feeling though. I can imagine my family, my friends and other people being happy.

"I've been in Norway watching the Tour de France so many times so I know that feeling of watching a Norwegian winning and I'm the only Norwegian in the Tour de France this year. This is the biggest race. It's THE race that everybody knows.”

“It's wonderful that my team-mate Alexander Kristoff won today," Rodriguez said. "I knew he was able to do it. He was getting closer and closer.

"As for myself, I've taken it easy in order to save some energy for tomorrow. Now in my mind, the polka dot jersey is the most important. But it's compatible with a stage win. Going for KOM points requires entering breakaways in the mountains anyway.

"Tomorrow's stage is different from the standard mountain stages because there's a third category climb at the beginning, so the question is: is it worth breaking away early or is it better waiting for the final part of the stage? We'll see. I'm pretty confident. I'm feeling better and better.”

Stage 13 comes on Friday and brings the first of two days in the Alps and the high mountains. The 197.5km stage begins in Saint-Étienne and ends with the HC climb Chamrousse capping off the day.