At this stage in the game, Alexander Kristoff knows his way around the Flemish Ardennes. While some of his Katusha-Alpecin teammates went to reconnoitre the Kwaremont and Paterberg ahead of E3 Harelbeke, the Norwegian opted for a shorter ride following his arrival at the teamīs Classics base, the Park Hotel in Kortrijk, on Thursday morning. As well as the roads, Kristoff knows his own best route the day of days, the Tour of Flanders. While most of his rivals will rest in the week that follows Gent-Wevelgem, Kristoff will, yet again, prepare for the Ronde amid the cut and thrust of the Three Days of De Panne. The approach has served him well in years past, and he sees no reason to change. `My body needs a little bit of beating up to get ready. Itīs not like I can relax and get ready, Iīm not built that way,` Kristoff told Cyclingnews. `Some people can have an easier approach and arrive in good shape, but I need to be really pushed hard and get really tired, and then after two days of rest, Iīm there.`ADVERTISEMENT Winner of the Tour of Flanders in 2015, Kristoff has never quite replicated that form in the dress rehearsals of E3 Harelbeke and Gent-Wevelgem. `Usually at these two races this weekend, I was never so good, but maybe I can change that this year,` he said. `I am here and the shape is quite good, but usually I need a bit more of these types of races to really come in the rhythm. Every year I use these two races and De Panne to be good in Flanders, but hopefully I manage to show myself a little bit tomorrow also.` Kristoff arrives in Belgium following a series of performances largely in line with his early-season form over the preceding three years, as he clocked up a hat-trick of stage wins at the Tour of Oman. For the third time in five years, Kristoff proceeded to win the bunch sprint at the end of Milan-San Remo, though as in 2013, he was competing for a minor placing rather than the victory. Even so, he came away from La Classicissima with few re ...
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