14th and 15th place. The results from the first chance for the sprinters were not what Alexander Kristoff and Uno-X had hoped for. For a long time, Rasmus Tiller and Jonas Abrahamsen did a brilliant job of keeping Kristoff and Søren Wærenskjold ahead, but in the last kilometer and a half, Kristoff and Wærenskjold never made it all the way. A few hundred meters from the finish line in Bayonne, it was Abrahamsen and Tiller who reached the team bus first. A few minutes later, Kristoff rolled in, and immediately sent a couple of messages to Abrahamsen. – Oh, you got in the way a bit at the end, I felt, said Kristoff, while Abrahamsen was up on a roll to ride down. – If you’re going to get ahead of us in the last two (kilometres), then you have to lean all the way to the front. Søren came a little too far behind and then the sprinters sit in front of you again. We didn’t get a free lane at the end there. If you have more left in the last two (kilometers), then you have to get all the way to the front. Now I think it would almost have been better if you had turned out after the last turn, Kristoff continued. See the whole situation here: Alexander Kristoff was upset with his team-mate Jonas Abrahamsen after the sprint on stage 3 of the Tour de France was not given way. Willing to learn from his own mistakes Before the start of the stage, Abrahamsen was clear that his most important job was to place the other two teammates well into the U-turn with just under two kilometers to go. It went as planned for the Norwegian team, but even after the turn Abrahamsen tried to get forward to pull his teammates forward. – I feel we are doing a good job up to two kilometers to go. After that we will be a bit too many. We must take the front if we are to be so many. Because now Jonas and Søren come in front of me, and there are also the sprinters in front of him again, says Kristoff to the Norwegian press corps, and continues: – Then there will be too many of us in line. We never get a free lane, me and Søren. It’s not optimal, because we both had pretty good legs. Every time we picked up the pace, we gained good speed, but we had to slow down again when people crashed out. Abrahamsen himself is brand new to Uno-X, a role he first got during the Belgium Tour in June. – It’s not so much fun when I don’t get it right. For my own part, I have not been in that situation that many times before. At least we’re there at the end. You have to learn how to do it. It is a learning process. You have to learn from your mistakes, says Abrahamsen. – The plan was to get them into the top 15 in the 180 degree. I did that. Perhaps in retrospect I should have left them alone there, he sums up. See the sprint here: Controversial race in the Tour de France. – It’s usually good to get a clear message Kristoff refers to himself as “a little disappointed” with Monday’s result, but is aware that Abrahamsen is a really valuable rider for the team. – We had a somewhat similar situation in Belgium. We may have to shout clearly that now his job is done. He likes to take in. He did a nice job and got us out nicely. Next time we just have to be a little more clear that the job is now done, says Kristoff, and continues: – He has crazy “power”. He is very valuable in our starting line-up. We just have to make some clear markings for where he should beat away or take the front, so that we can use the potential to the maximum, he says. Sports director Gabriel Rasch also emphasizes that Abrahamsen seems to be in brilliant shape. About Kristoff’s clear feedback, he says: – They are boys who are good friends. Sometimes it’s good to get clear messages. Or, actually, most of the time it’s good to get a clear message. We will take that seriously now at the debrief and talk about how we could do better. THE FINISH LINE: Kristoff rolled across the finish line in 14th place. Photo: Fredrik Varfjell / NTB The team-mate about Kristoff: – Very honest Kristoff, who turns 36 on Wednesday, is known for being direct in his feedback. When news spoke to Rasmus Tiller ahead of the Tour de France, he highlighted, among other things, how the sprint star had spoken out after the last stage of the Tour of Norway – despite Kristoff winning that stage. – What’s nice about Alex is that he’s very honest, anyway. It’s very easy if you win a stage, so even if everything wasn’t 100 percent, you pat the guys on the back and say well done. It is important to always take the learning with you. Such as in the Tour of Norway. There we win the last stage, but I don’t do a 100 percent perfect pull-up. Then we’ll talk through it, said Tiller. – Although it was good, it could have been better. He has been very honest and clear in his feedback. It has been very positive for all the guys, I feel. We have talked through a lot especially the part about sprinting, which may not have been our strongest point with pull-ups and such. But I feel we have improved this year than we have been in the past. He has had a lot to say with experience and he is very clear in his feedback, said Tiller further. It can come in handy, because as early as Tuesday there will probably be another chance for the sprinters. – Today we missed a bit. But there are small margins. If we had escaped a slowdown, we would have been completely up. There’s not much to do, really. It’s not really quite the night, although today’s result wasn’t particularly good. There is not much to do before it could be a top five, top three. In that sense, we shouldn’t dig ourselves in, says Kristoff.
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