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Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Monday, August 7, 2017

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2017 Tour de France | 2017 Giro d'Italia

The most effective way to do it, is to do it. - Amelia Earhart

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Alexander Kristoff is European Road Champion

Here's the report from Kristoff's Katusha-Alpecin team:

Cycling's 50 Triumphs and Tragedies

The one-day road race championships in Herning, Denmark provided an exciting victory for Team KATUSHA ALPECIN’S Alexander Kristoff on Sunday. The Norwegian rider sprinted in for gold, just edging out Italy’s Elia Viviani in a photo finish for the 241.2k race. Kristoff will wear the blue and white jersey signifying his championship status for the next year.

“I am happy to wear this jersey for a year as no one has seen it these last 12-months because Peter Sagan held it but also the rainbow jersey,” Alexander Kristoff explained.

“We had a strong Norwegian team here and Edvald (Boasson Hagen) did a really good attack in the end where he almost won, so we had a good tactic there. We saw in the other races that late attacks made it to the final so we thought to try with Edvald. He’s a strong guy and it almost worked. He was only caught with 300 meters to go and then I managed to take the sprint,” said Kristoff.

“Typically there is a strong lead-out for Viviani so I started a little bit earlier than he did. I went to the right side and he tried to come to the inside. It was a small hole and I didn’t let him take the hole. We were sprinting next to each other but he didn’t really have the space to pass me. At the end we were really close. I think he was very disappointed but I don’t feel I did anything wrong as my sprint was more or less straight. I am happy to be the winner and to win with such a small margin is always thrilling,” said Alexander Kristoff. A quick review of the finish by race judges gave Kristoff the win by a tire-width.

Alexander Kristoff

Alexander Kristoff (red shoulders) just beat Elia Viviani

Behind Viviani’s silver medal was Moreno Hofland (Netherlands) for the bronze. All 3 received the same time of 5:41:10 (42.419 km/h).

The racing season is far from over and Alexander has more goals ahead: “My next goal is the world championships. My next races are the Arctic Race of Norway, Hamburg, Plouay and Britain. It is enough races to try to win at the championships in Bergen.” The world championships will take place from September 17-24 in Kristoff’s native Norway.

Results:

  1. Alexander Kristoff (Norway) 5hr 41min 10sec
  2. Elia Viviani (Italy) s.t.
  3. Moreno Hofland (Netherlands) s.t.
  4. Pascal Acjermann (Germany) s.t.
  5. Luka Mzgec (Slovenia) s.t.

Julia Soek wins Erondegemse Piljl

Team Sunweb sent me this race report:

Team Sunweb's Julia Soek (NED) sprinted from the breakaway to take the victory at Erondegemse Pijl yesterday.

After demonstrating her strength in the breakaway throughout the day, Soek sprinted to the first win of her professional career at Erondegemse Pijl. When it became likely that the breakaway's efforts would prevail, the 26-year-old launched an attack on a challenging section of the parcours to power past her companions and sprint to the victory.

After the race Soek said: "I'm really happy with this win. Myself and Coryn were on the start line so the plan was for me to ride in the break so Coryn could save energy for if the race came down to a sprint. Before we entered the last lap there was a harder part that went slightly uphill, I took the chance to attack and managed to get away with two other riders. I won the sprint from the group and then Coryn finished 4th from the bunch. It was a really good day for us and I'm delighted to take the win."

Team Sunweb coach Hans Timmermans (NED) added: "We wanted to give Julia her own chance for the win in finale. She took that chance with both hands and was really strong throughout the race so things went exactly as we would have liked. Her strength during the race was phenomenal and she is for sure the deserved winner. To have Coryn win the sprint from the bunch is like a double win for us, it was a brilliant ride for the team."


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