Kristoff re-signs with Team Katusha

Tour of Flanders winner Alexander Kristoff will continue with Katusha after reaching an undisclosed agreement with the WorldTour team.

Alexander Kristoff at the 2015 Three Days De Panne (Tim De Waele)

After a season in which the 27-year-old has so far won 11 races, including Flanders, Scheldeprijs and Three-Days of De Panne-Koksijde, the deal is likely to run for another two years and include a fat pay rise.

“It is unbelievable how the team was going the last months. They all worked so hard for me,” said Kristoff. The teammates trust me and I trust them. For the first time I could work from a sprinter’s train.

“Our newly arrived riders all proved to be the right choices. I had a contract till the end of this year but my hope was to be able to stay with this winning team. It didn’t take us so long to reach a new agreement. I am very happy.”

After a torrid spring, Kristoff is now starting the second part of his season, focused around the Tour de France. His first race in that build-up will be Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt in Germany on 1 May.

“We’ve never had such a good spring as this one in 2015. It is the right moment to build further on the future of our team. Alexander Kristoff was the logical first rider to re-sign,” said Katusha general manager Viacheslav Ekimov.