TANGKAK: Norwegian cycling great, Alexander Kristoff, who chose Petronas Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) as the last race of his career, was presented with a guard of honour in the final stage of the tour today (Oct 5).
The 38-year-old, who was competing here for Uno-X Mobility, was forced to abandon the tour yesterday after sustaining injuries to his hand and his back in a crash.
Kristoff sat in a rickshaw pedalled by former national rider Anuar Manan — the first Malaysian to win a LTdL stage — as they went through the guard of honour.
Kristoff said it was a meaningful gesture from the tour.
“I was hoping I would still be racing today but unfortunately I had a bad crash yesterday,” said Kristoff.
“But it is definitely a big honour to be given the guard of honour ceremony here.
“It has been a huge honour to have been in the pro peloton for so many years. I am happy and proud to have achieved what I have.
“I would say my Monument wins at the Tour of Flanders and Milan-San Remo as well as the stage wins at the Tour de France were some of the highlights of my career.
“I also won the European championships and finished third at the Olympics, so I have many good memories to look back on.”
The four-time Tour de France stage winner said he looked up to Italian sprinters Mario Cipollini and Alessandro Petacchi in his formative years.
“I had always considered myself as a sprinter when I was young and Cipollini and Petacchi were the big guys at the time, so I always looked up to them,” said Kristoff.
“But we also had a good sprinter, Thor Hushovd, in Norway and I also cheered for him.”
Kristoff, who has amassed 98 professional wins in his career, added that he is looking forward to the next phase of his life.
“I might do a little bit of work with the Tour of Norway next year, which is based in my home city. I have very good memories from this race so I look forward to working with the organisation of this race,” said Kristoff.
“We (family) will be having our fifth son in February so it is already quite busy at home so I will not be doing too much work in the first few years (after retiring).
“Maybe in the future I will come back to cycling or perhaps something else, we will see.”
Kristoff had finished second in the third stage of LTdL on Tuesday after being pipped to the line by XDS Astana’s Matteo Malucelli.
– NST
