Kristoff on target in Odense

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Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) continued his fine recent run of form with victory on stage four of the Tour of Denmark, a brisk 90-kilometre run from Ringe to Odense. The Norwegian, who win the sprint for bronze at the London 2012 Olympics road race recently, showed a fine turn of speed to see off Andy Fenn (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) and world champion Mark Cavendish (Sky) in a bunch finish.

“It was a fast and short stage with a difficult final part because the road was slippery and there were some bad corners,” said Kristoff, who paid tribute to the efforts of his Katusha team in setting up the sprint. “In the end Alexander Porsev and Alexey Tsatevich did a great job, and they dropped me off with only 500 metres to go.”

The early entertainment on the short stage was provided by a three-man break featuring Jonas Aeaen Jorgensen (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff), Nikolay Trusov (RusVelo) and Christian Jersild Jensen (Blue Water), but the trio knew the odds were stacked against them on such a course and they were swallowed up shortly ahead of the technical finale.

Lars-Petter Nordhaug (Sky) retains his overall lead ahead of Saturday evening’s stage 5 time trial. Kristoff’s stage win sees him move up to second overall, just one second down on his fellow countryman, but he insisted that his priority was winning Sunday’s final stage rather than attempting to take final overall victory.

“I’m second in general classification, but this afternoon there will be the time trial: I’m not a specialist, so I’m expecting to lose some time even if I hope to impress myself,” he said. “Maybe my teammates will have a chance, because the gaps in overall standings are still narrow: my goal is to try to win also tomorrow’s stage.”

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