Alexander Kristoff takes second classic of the season in Vattenfall Cyclassics, Mark Cavendish is fifth in bunch kick
![]() |
Report – Kristoff wins Vattenfall Cyclassics
NOTE: Send your results as well as club, team & event news here
Sunday brought another win for Team Katusha as Norwegian sprinter Alexander Kristoff claimed his fourteenth UCI win of the season by taking the bunch sprint in the WorldTour race Vattenfall Cyclassics. Working off his teammates Pavel Brutt and Marco Haller in the run to the line, Kristoff made his way to the front and ramped up his sprint from there, winning decisively from Nizzolo and Gerrans.
Picture: PelotonPhotos.com
The day’s three-man escape group was little worry to the ProTour teams targeting a bunch run-in, especially with the sheer distance of the parcours that included the steep Waseberg climb (800m and 15%) the peloton negotiated four times.
The breakaway was absorbed the penultimate time up the Waseberg with 29 kilometers remaining, and the steep slope became the launch pad for opportunists.
A small five-rider group slipped off the front, gained 20 seconds, but the peloton was not willing to let the move go. The quartet was brought back in time for the final ascent with 15 kilometers to go, and the fireworks set off again.
The Waseberg was the decisive point of the race, and the fight for the front positions leading into the climb followed by a tricky descent was fierce.
Attacks flew left and right until the final kilometres before the sprint teams began to assume some sort of control. Alexander Kristoff: “I had Marco and Pavel to keep me safe in the closing kilometres. In the last km we were a bit blocked but I managed to get to the front. With 300 meters to go, I was in the first position and so I started my sprint a little bit slowly and gradually motored up so I was happy no one could come past me.â€
Coming along the right side of the barrier and then moving to the center of the road, Kristoff showed pure strength in his sprint, holding off Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing) and Simon Gerrans of Orica-GreenEdge. The victory gives him sixth place on the UCI WorldTour rankings and moves Team Katusha into sixth on the Team classification for WorldTour teams.
“I like racing here in Hamburg. I’ve done this race every year since I’ve been a pro and I’ve always liked this race even though I’ve never won before. But I finally made it, so for sure now it’s one of my favorite races,†– said a happy Alex Kristoff.
Photo: PelotonPhotos.com
Giacomo Nizzolo “Before the last climb, the whole team helped me to stay in the first positions. Danilo was there in the final kilometers, and he did a really great job. In the end I took the wheel of Kristoff, who for me was the favorite for today. I told the guys yesterday, and the day before, that the best guy who is in the best condition for this race was Kristoff, and in the end I was right because he won”.
“What can I say, I always find somebody that is stronger than me, in the Giro, now here. If any of those were a victory, my season would change a lot. But okay, about the legs I can only be happy because two weeks ago I was really dead. When I look back 15 days ago after the virus I got in Wallonie, I can be only happy about the result of today.”
Simon Gerrans – 2014 Liege-Bastogne-Liege winner Simon Gerrans rounded out the podium after finishing third. “I felt pretty good from the start which I was surprised about,†Gerrans said. “I had a few days off after San Sebastian just to recover from the Tour de France and that whole block of racing and then did a couple of weeks training up in the mountains. “Hamburg was my first race back since then so it was a really good test actually.”
“I came back down from the mountain only on Thursday so I thought I might be a little bit sluggish for the first half and hope to come good for the final but my sensations were pretty good right from the beginning. I was waiting for the sprint with hopes on maybe finishing top five,†Gerrans said.
“We thought that would be a pretty good result. But we really hit it from the front and the guys did a really good job of putting me in a position to try and run a good place, so I was pretty happy to run third in the end.â€
RESULT
1 Kristoff AlexanderTeam Katusha 5:24
2 Nizzolo GiacomoTrek Factory Racing
3 Gerrans SimonOrica GreenEDGE5
4 Farrar TylerGarmin Sharp
5 Cavendish MarkOmega Pharma – Quick-Step
6 Kittel MarcelTeam Giant-Shimano
7 Cimolai DavideLampre-Merida
8 Lobato Juan JoséMovistar Team
9 Dillier SilvanBMC Racing Team
10 Kreder RaymondGarmin Sharp
20 Thwaites ScottTeam NetApp – Endura
79 Yates SimonOrica GreenEDGE
91 Bauer JackGarmin Sharp 1:30
117 Swift BenTeam Sky
Send your results as well as club, team & event news here
Other Results on VeloUK (including reports containing results)
- RR Result: Beaumont Trophy/Curlew Cup
- Features, Reports, Results
- 2023 UCI World Masters Track Cycling Championships Day 1
- Series Table: Isle of Man Youth League 2023
- BMCR Result: Victoria CC Criterium
- 93rd VeloViewer Monsal Hill Climb Event Preview
- CX Result: London and South East CX League 3
- RR Result: JGCC Road Race
- CX Result: Central Cyclocross League 2
- HC Result: Cheltenham & County CC Hill Climb
- HC Result: Westerham CC Hill Climb
- HC Result: Ayr Roads CC Hill Climb
- HC Result: Kingston Wheelers Hill Climb
- HC Result: Mid Devon CC Haytor Hill Climb
- HC Result: Mid Devon CC Widecombe Hill Climb
- TT Result: East Anglian VTTA 25m TT
- TT Result: VC Sevale 10m TT
- HC Result: Team Lifting Gear Products (Pea Royd Lane)
- HC Result: Team Lifting Gear Products Hill Climb
- TT Result: Paceline RT 25m TT
- HC Result: Watford Velo Sport Hill Climb
- HC Result: Cleveland Whs Hill Climb
- HC Result: Withington Wheelers Hill Climb
- CX Result: Shimano Lazer WMCCL Rd 4
- BMCR Result: Moda RT E/F/G/H/W Stallard Finale
- Dedication to the late Steve Knight
- TT Result: SVTTA (Speed Trophy) 15m TT
- RR Result: 360cycling Junior National Series Finale
- TT Result: Bramley Wheelers 25m TT
- TT Result: New Forest CC Autumn 10
- TT Result: Berkhamsted CC Sporting 10m TT
- TT Result: Saint Piran 19m TT
- HC Result: Exeter Wheelers Hill Climb
- HC Result: Wigmore CC Hill Climb
- Track Result: 2023 Derny Championship
- Crit Result: West Thames Autumn Crits 2
- CX Result: Eastern Cyclo-Cross League Rd 2
- CX Result: CXNE Series Round 2
- CX Result: Western Cyclocross League Rd 1
- CX Result: 3 Peaks 2023
- CX Result: Lincolnshire CX League Rd 1
- CX Result: Wessex CX League Rd3 (Foxhill)
Other News on VeloUK
- 93rd VeloViewer Monsal Hill Climb Event Preview
- Dedication to the late Steve Knight
- Saint Piran’s Remarkable Journey
- GB Riders for European Road Championships
- News: Ribble Launches Stone into Gravel
- Report: Wightlink-Wight Mountain CRT 2023
- News: East Cleveland Classic Rescheduled
- ENTRIES NEEDED: Severn Valley GP
- EVENTS: Criterium des Vainqueurs
- RR Result: Scottish National Road Race Championship
- Startlist: BMCR National Road Race Championships(C/D)
- PREVIEW – AA Brown Road Race
- Startlist: Beaumont Trophy/Curlew Cup
- Team News: Wightlink-Wight Mountain CRT
- News: Ribble adds 105 12 speed to Bikes
- Startlist: RTTC National 10 Mile Championships
- News: Jenny Holl races Rás na mBan with Alba DRT
- WORLD TRACK MASTERS – LESS THAN A WEEK TO ENTER!
- Tour of Britain: Provisional Start List
- News: Shimano Lazer West Midlands Cyclocross League (WMCCL)
- JUNIOR TOUR OF WALES (Podiums)
- This Sunday: Time Trial’s Blue Ribbon Event – 25 mile Championship
- News: new Womens Cycling Team
- News: Reviving Elite Cycle Racing Taskforce
- News: Charlie Tanfield Extends with Saint Piran
- News: West Midlands Road Race League
- Report: World Championships (August 13, Sunday)
- News: Pedal Club Lunch (August ‘23)
- Report: World Championships (Aug 12, Saturday)
- Report: World Championships (August 11)
- Report: World Championships (August 10)
- Events: Ryedale Grasscrete GP (Men/Women)
- Feature: Handsling Bikes
- News: Tao Geoghegan Hart Signs for Lidl-Trek
- World Championships (Wed, Aug 9)
- Report: World Championships (Aug 8, 2023)
- 2023 World Championships: (Monday)
- Report: World Championships (Sunday)
- Report: Golden Day for GB in Glasgow
- World Championships Report: Scottish Cycling (Aug 4)