Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha) claimed the second Monument of his career on Sunday as he easily out-powered Etixx-QuickStep’s Niki Terpstra to capture the Ronde van Vlaanderen. Second in Milano-Sanremo two weeks ago, Kristoff is now second in the UCI WorldTour individual rankings, too.
Just after a front group of some 30 riders crested the Kruisberg, the third last climb of 19 in the 264.2 kilometre Ronde van Vlaanderen, Terpstra made a deceptively steady acceleration that allowed the 2014 Paris-Roubaix winner to ease clear. Kristoff quickly latched onto Terpstra’s back wheel, though and then the two began working hard to forge a maximum gap of some 30 seconds.
At time, particularly on the Kwaremont and Paterburg climbs where their margin on the chasing group plummeted to 15 seconds or less, it seemed as if Terpstra and Kristoff’s ambitious two-rider move would not go all the way to the finish.
But even if both counter attackers Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) and the chasing mini-peloton of a dozen riders could see the two race leaders on the long, straight road to the finish town of Oudenaarde, the Katusha Team rider and his Etixx-Quick Step rival nonetheless dug deep and kept the gap open.
Terpstra, knowing Kristoff was a faster finisher, began conserving his strength a little in the final kilometre. However, Kristoff’s strength was such he easily out-powered the Dutchman, following up his team-mate Luca Paolini’s win in Gent-Wevelgem last Sunday with another major Classics victory - and Norway’s first in the Ronde van Vlaanderen. The runner-up last year, this time Van Avermaet completed the Ronde van Vlaanderen podium in third, with Sagan fourth.
“I'm really happy to win, it's a really good feeling," Kristoff, fifth in the Ronde van Vlaanderen last year, said. “This was one of my big goals this season and I managed to do it.”
"At the end, I reached the finish with Niki, and he didn't really want to work with me, but I understand that. In the end I could still beat him.”
Overall in the UCI WorldTour rankings, Kristoff now moves up from fourth to second behind individual leader Richie Porte (Team Sky). Porte, who did not take part in the Ronde van Vlaanderen, remains with a total of 303 points to Kristoff’s 233 points, whilst Porte’s team-mate Geraint Thomas drops a spot, to third overall.
Ronde van Vlaanderen runner-up Terpstra makes the biggest gain overall in the UCI WorldTour of Sunday’s top finishers, jumping from 21st to fourth place with 140 points. Sagan, too, moves strongly into the top ten, climbing from eleventh to sixth place, with 136 points.
Although Australia’s unchanged total of 578 points means that the country easily remains in the overall lead in the UCI WorldTour nations classification, the Netherlands nonetheless have leapfrogged up the ranking, from fifth to second overall. With 365 points, seven points more than third placed Italy with an unchanged total of 359 points, Netherlands are slightly closer to the top spot overall than Australia’s previous closest pursuers. Belgium and Norway gain a place, too, moving into sixth and seventh respectively, whilst Slovakia edges into the top ten, too thanks to Sagan’s fourth place.
Whilst Porte controls the individual ranking, his squad, Team Sky, remain the overall leaders of the UCI WorldTour teams ranking with 525 points. However their previous advantage has been squeezed considerably, from 129 points ahead of Etixx-Quick Step following last weekend’s racing to 41 points after the Ronde van Vlaanderen. Team Katusha, in third place with 403 points, have closed the gap on the top two teams as well.
Further down the ranking, early leaders BMC Racing Team have now moved up a spot to fourth, whilst a strong collective showing by Lotto-Soudal sees the Belgian squad blast into the top ten, jumping from eleventh to seventh.