ALEXANDER KRISTOFF

The Norwegian sprinter talks sleeping, skiing and trance music

Where’s home? Stavanger, on Norway’s south west coast. Because I’m on the coast, the weather is very similar to Britain, maybe Scotland. Schools and stuff are still open at the moment. Compared to many other places in the world, covid is quite under control here.

What’s your favourite climb?

I think maybe a local one here in Stavanger: Dalsnuten. I use it a lot for training, so maybe that’s my favourite. From the bottom to the top it’s about 10 minutes, and it goes up in steps.

Where in the world would you like to get lost on your bike?

I really enjoyed having a training camp in the US, when I was in California. I also like training in Mallorca, but I don’t think I could get lost there, because I know every road. I really enjoyed that training camp in California, though that might just have been because it was my first year as a pro.

What’s the best prize you’ve won?

You get a really good prize for Scheldeprijs, because it’s covered in diamonds - a beautiful prize. I won a bed once. I’m not sleeping in it any more - it’s in my guest bedroom. It’s 180cm wide, so that was pretty funny to win.

If you had one extra hour in the day what would you do?

Right now, maybe sleeping. I like to spend time in my cabin or go skiing. Maybe something other than cycling.

What was the last app you downloaded?

It was probably something for my kids. No, it was a reminder for taking the trash out for pick-up.

When were you last star struck?

I got a message from Johannes Høsflot Klæbo last weekend because I put a video of my kids skiing up, and then the best skier in the world sent me a nice message, and the kids thought it was really cool too. He said it looks like they have a good talent for skiing.

What advice would you give your teenage self?

I think I’d just say believe in yourself and you’ll get there. Continue working hard and take it a step at a time. Find small goals on the way and you’ll improve. I didn’t believe I was going to have this career when I was 18. In fact, I didn’t really believe it until I got to my best years.

What’s your best cycling hack?

I listen to hard electronic music when I’m cycling. It gets you pumped up. When I’m going a little bit slower I might listen to something like trance. I do a lot of long training rides and you need a lot of time to train my way. It might not be the most effective way, but it works for me. When you’re a pro, you have all the time in the day to ride.

Toughest day on the bike?

My first year at the Giro, 2011, there was a really tough stage, maybe 5,000m of climbing. I even had to stop at a hotel halfway through because my stomach went really bad. It was not a nice day, but eventually I made it to the finish.

“I listen to hard electronic music when I’m cycling. It gets you pumped up. When I’m going slower I might listen to trance”