The BMC Racing Team will be lining up at the start of this coming Sunday’s Vattenfall Cyclassics in Hamburg, Germany, with the aim of setting up a sprint victory for Alexander Kristoff. The 24-year-old Norwegian champion finished fourth in the 2010 edition of the German classic and, after some strong recent results, he hopes to go even better this time.
While his national title is Kristoff’s only win of the year so far, in the second half of the season he has come close to taking another. In the last week of July, he took a third and a second place in successive stages of the Tour de Wallonie, followed by second place again in the opening stage of the tour of Poland. Seventh place in the London Surrey Cycle Classic – the test event for the 2012 Olympic road race course, is what gives him real confidence for the almost certain sprint finish in Hamburg.
"My shape is good so I am confident that I can make a good result," said Kristoff.
As Kristoff thinks about the sprint finish on Sunday, the other seven members of the BMC Racing Team are concerned with making sure that the sprint happens, and that the Norwegian is there to contest it. As Swiss rider Michael Schär, who has helped teammates Cadel Evans and Greg Van Avermaet to a number of results this season knows, there is more to the Hamburg course than just the sprint finish.
"There is also the Waseberg where positioning is really important," said Schär. "So we'll work hard to bring our sprinter to the front there."
Although the steeo Waseberg is climbed three times in the 216.5km course – the last time coming just 27.7km from the finish – the race is almost certain to finish in a sprint, as it has in almost every previous edition. When it does, Kristoff hopes to be in there once more, fighting for a place on the podium.
BMC Racing Team for the Vattenfall Cyclassics
Yannick Eijsssen, Alexander Kristoff, Amaël Moinard, Steve Morabito, John Murphy, Michael Schär, Danilo Wyss and Simon Zahner