Katusha slipped to sixth place in the WorldTour team rankings following a disappointing 2014 season, but the damage could have been much worse if the hadn't had impressive Alexander Kristoff on board. Rightly regarded one of the most improved riders of the last twelve months, the powerful Norwegian won a lion share of all victories claimed by the Russian team, including his first monument, Milano-Sanremo.

The Katusha manager, Viatcheslav Ekimov, admitted in the interview for Cyclingnews that only Kristoff's breakthrough performences saved the season for the Russian team and was full of praise for the 27-year old Norwegian, who took 14 out of 25 their victories. 

“Kristoff saved the situation, the big picture and the visibility of the team. We all thank Alex for that, he gave us a chance to manage the damage,” Ekimov told Cyclingnews.

“It was a very successful year for us. Of course, every team wishes that they had more but in the bigger picture it was a good year,” he argued.

“If you calculate the team’s success and the victory numbers compared to 2013 it was a little bit less but the quality of the victories was much bigger. First of all we won Milan-San Remo, that was huge. That was for sure a page of history in the team book. We won two stages of the Tour de France and we were present in almost every WorldTour race competitively.”

Ekimov revealed that the points classification at the Tour de France will be the next big objective for steadily improving Norwegian. Saying this, the Katusha manager suggested that marrying defferent needs of Kristoff and Joaquim Rodriguez in the French Grand Tour should turn out easier than similar situation which Tinkoff-Saxo will be forced to face in regards to perennial green jersey contender Peter Sagan and Alberto Contador. And he promissed to provide the 27-year old sprinter with several Russian companions..

“If I were Alex Kristoff at the Tour de France I would think about the green jersey,” he said.

“If you imagine Sagan goes with Alberto in the same team, Sagan might be isolated because the number one goal for the Tinkoff-Saxo team is to win the Tour de France with Alberto Contador. The team must be calibrated accordingly and Sagan might be isolated.”

“Why not? Alex is a guy who doesn’t need six riders around him. Purito is a guy who needs his lieutenants, who are Dani Moreno and [Alberto] Losada and [Giampaolo] Caruso and that is it. So we still have some room for some Russian guys.”