Bittner's 1st, Kristoff's 94th (!), and both equally happy: "Finally, I win after so many second places"

One is at the start of a promising career, while the other is working toward a great finish to his. Pavel Bittner and Alexander Kristoff both won sprints on Monday, but their stories are, of course, completely different. Yet Kristoff was just as happy with his second consecutive stage win in the Arctic Race of Norway as Bittner was with his first professional victory in Burgos.

First, there's Bittner, who somewhat surprisingly was the fastest in a reduced group in the Tour of Burgos. The 21-year-old Czech rider from Team dsm-firmenich PostNL had shown his speed before, but he had never won a race until now. "The team believed in me, and they did an excellent job by being at the front with forty kilometers to go. We stayed consistently on the left, and in the final stretch, I was perfectly positioned for the last hill," he analyzed via his team's official channels.

After dsm-firmenich PostNL picked up three bonus seconds with their GC rider Max Poole, the focus shifted entirely to Bittner. He finished the job like a seasoned pro, which was notable given his past. "At the finish, I relied a bit on intuition, and finally, I win after so many second places. I’m really happy, especially that I could repay the guys for their hard work."

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Kristoff as happy as a child with career win no. 94

In the Arctic Race of Norway, all eyes were on Kristoff, just like the day before. The 37-year-old Norwegian had already won convincingly in the sprint, and Uno-X Mobility pulled it off again on Monday. "We had another great lead-out, with strong work from Markus Hoelgaard and Rasmus Tiller during the stage. I only had to sprint for a hundred meters because Magnus Cort and Jonas Abrahamsen brought me almost to the finish. The fact that Magnus still finished third shows how strong the lead-out was. I’m happy; it's very special to be part of such a strong team."

"Tomorrow will be too tough to defend the leader’s jersey, but we have other guys who can climb well," Kristoff said, looking ahead to the queen stage on Wednesday in Norway. That’s when the climbers will come out to contest the overall standings. "If the finish today had been uphill, I wouldn’t have won, so tomorrow will be for guys like Magnus, Andreas Leknessund, and maybe Abrahamsen."