Victory number 97 (!) for Kristoff, who's fully focused on number 100: "I could have won more easily"

When it was all over, Kristoff was mainly relieved that he won. "We were in control from the start. The guys did a great job keeping the breakaway in check, but also in the echelons," he said in the flash interview. "The whole team was there. The finish was a bit trickier than I had hoped. The road went up steeply in the last kilometer. That meant my legs weren't as fresh anymore."

With an improvised lead-out, it became a challenging job in the final. "I think we made two mistakes in the lead-out. They're not the standard guys I usually work with; they're more climbers, so they're not used to this situation. That caused us to be on the wrong side of the INEOS riders. I lost a lot of speed as a result. I could have won more easily, but it was very close in the end because my last 300 meters were not great. Fortunately, I still had enough power to finish it in the last few meters."

This is Kristoff's 97th victory: three more to go, and he will have his desired hundredth victory. "It's my first this year. Søren (Waerenskjold, ed.) already won once for this team; now we have two. I'm glad my season has started, and I'm going for a hundred victories. I now have 97. I need three more this season." There are still two sprint opportunities in the Ruta Del Sol, where Kristoff can probably reach 99 victories, as he is one of the few real sprinters in the race.