Kristoff and Martin double up on back-to-back victories

A win from Alexander Kristoff in France came just minutes before Tony Martin did the same in Spain, kicking off the season with two victories for Team KATUSHA ALPECIN in Thursday’s races. 

“We received information that Kristoff also won today so we knew we needed to do the same. I’m very happy that in my first road race for KATUSHA ALPECIN that I could get a victory and keep our morale high in the team for the next races,” said Tony Martin.

Kristoff’s first win of the season came in stage 2 of Etoile de Bessèges, a 152.7k road stage that began in Nîmes and ended in Rodilhan in the second of five stages.

“Yesterday I was second and I had a really good sprint so I was motivated to try to beat Arnaud Démare today,” said Alexander Kristoff. “It was a harder race today with a smaller group and our team did such a good job with many riders in the front. At the end I wanted to win to make this team effort count and I’m very happy to get the win in the second race of the year.” Kristoff is currently leading on the general classification by 4-seconds to Démare.

The second win of the day took place in the 68th Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana on stage 2 from Alicante to Denia at 180.6k in a region well-known to Tony Martin.

“It feels great. I knew the final here from our training camps and I knew I had good condition so I had a plan in my mind and the plan worked out. It’s nice to start the season for KATUSHA ALPECIN like this, especially after a bad day yesterday. This makes everything good. The team supported me 100% on a stage that was kind of crazy with a lot of crashes and a lot of rain. I crashed two times myself. But I had a plan in my mind and in wet conditions not so many riders can go with me.  I took some risks but everything worked out to the plan.  I usually win only in the time trial so it’s special to win in this road race,” said Tony Martin, current UCI World Time Trial champion.

While Alexander Kristoff has been a team leader since 2012 for Team KATUSHA ALPECIN, his lead-out group has changed this year and he’s supported by younger men for the finals.

“We have a strong team here and we had almost the whole team in the front. We can be proud of the guys. We have many young guys who are riding the first time with us as a pro so to be in the front group is impressive. I know when I was first year pro I could not manage to do this. I’m so proud of them and all of the team,” said Alexander Kristoff.

Tony Martin is new for the season and happy with the decision to join the KATUSHA ALPECIN family:

“I was really welcomed into this team and the atmosphere is so great. It was a good decision for me to go to this team and I hope this victory gives something back to their work for me.”