Stavanger: UAE Team Emirates’ European champion Alexander Kristoff will line up alongside fellow Norwegian Sven Erik Bystrom as the duo take on the first ever Hammer Series Stavanger this weekend, from May 25 to 27.
While Bystrom will be hoping to impress on home turf, the race has extra impetus for Kristoff, who will be racing in his hometown. Joining them will be teammates Simone Petilli, Oliviero Troia and Przemyslaw Niemiec.
“It’s cool to race in Stavanger because I live there and I regularly train on those roads,” said Kristoff. “Competing where people know you personally gives you a lot of motivation and makes this race special.”
This is the second Hammer Series event, with the inaugural race having taken place in the Netherlands last year.
Part of the UCI European Tour, the series differs from the typical format of World Tour races. Rather than individual results, the Hammer Series pits team versus team as they look to secure victories in each of the three challenges — climb, sprint and chase.
The climb discipline will see riders tackle nine and a half laps of an 8.5-km circuit, with the first 10 riders crossing the line on each lap picking up points for their team. The team with the most points wins. The same rule applies for the sprint discipline, but riders will face a longer circuit, at 9.3 km. The final discipline will be the chase — three laps of a 16.2-km circuit where the best ranked team from the previous disciplines starts in first position. The team whose fourth rider crosses the line first wins the Hammer Series Stavanger.
