Alexander Kristoff bounced back from a Tour de France crash earlier this month to win Sunday’s Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic.
The Katusha-Alpecin rider took the title in a massive bunch sprint from a group that included more than 50 riders.
Magnus Cort Nielsen (Orica-Scott) and Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) finished second and third.
“We weren’t able to win at all in the Tour, so we wanted to bounce back today,” Kristoff said. “Today we showed we still have a good level and everybody was committed. I knew this course and knew it suited me quite well.”
Top 10 overall
1. Alexander Kristoff (NOR/Katusha-Alpecin) les 186 km en 4h5’42”
2. Magnus Cort Nielsen (DEN/Orica-Scott) m.t.
3. Michael Matthews (AUS/SunWeb) m.t.
4. Sep Vanmarcke (BEL/Cannondale-Drapac) m.t.
5. Wouter Wippert (NED/Cannondale-Drapac) m.t.
6. Jempy Drucker (LUX/BMC Racing Team) à 0:01
7. Zakkari Dempster (AUS/Israel Cycling Academy) m.t
8. Sam Bennett (IRL/Bora-Hansgrohe) m.t
9. Rudy Barbier (FRA/AG2R La Mondiale) m.t
10. Oliver Naesen (BEL/AG2R La Mondiale) m.t
The 185.9-kilometer event that follows the 2012 London Olympics road race route featured a handful of small breakaways. After a five-man group was caught with 80km left, another group of three formed and built a 20-second lead with 50km remaining.
The trio nearly made it to the finish line ahead of the main field before the speeding peloton, led by Katusha, swallowed it up.
Entering the final straightaway with the finish line in sight, Kristoff held onto the wheels in front of him and made his winning move roughly 150 meters from the line.
“The team did amazing work today, especially Nils [Politt] to pull back [the breakaway],” Kristoff said. “There were not many teams who wanted to work with us so we did the main job and pulled it off at the end.”
Kristoff crashed hard in stage 17 of the Tour de France. He did not suffer any broken bones and was able to finish the race, but the incident left him bruised and bloodied.
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