Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) again proved that he is the master of sprint at the end of long, hard races when he beat big favourites like Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and André Greipel by several bike legths to take a dominant win in Milan-Sanremo. Savouring the biggest moment of his sporting life, the Norwegian admitted to be surprised but said that a sprint is a special thing at the end of a 300km race.

Today Katusha achieved a great historical success as Alexander Kristoff, with incredible support of his teammates, took the monumental victory at the famous classic Milano – Sanremo in Italy. Having won the same sprint one year ago, albeit only for 8th place, Kristoff again showed that he excels in sprints at the end of hard races when he beat usually much faster riders to take a convincing win in the Italian classic.

After 294 km of racing and tremendous work from every rider of Katusha Team, Kristoff could find an ideal position for the final, with Luca Paolini delivering him perfectly inside the final kilometre.

"The team did incredible work," he said. "Katusha was absolutely amazing during the entire race, all my teammates were great. Luca Paolini helped me a lot in the final to get a good position for the sprint. It was a very difficult and unpredictable sprint.

"A sprint after 300 km is different from one after 200 km. Normally I don’t lose much power even on a long stage. I saw Cavendish, who started his sprint, so I started mine, too. For the last 150 meters I had super power and was able to hold the others off.

"I was super happy when I saw I’d taken the win. It was the best moment in my life. Right now I’m enjoying this moment and I’m super happy. It’s the highlight of my career.

“Of course it’s a little surprise as I did not win the big classics or races like this before, but I was always up there. I was 8th here, 4th in Flanders and 9th in Roubaix, so it’s not a big surprise.

“I didn’t expect it myself but I knew if I was good and lucky that it was not impossible. And also the team said that I could make a good result. I believed in it, but to actually win is something different?

“I tried to follow and stay in the pack, I didn't think about the others: I just wanted to survive the Poggio. I felt good but I didn’t know about the others, because normally Greipel and Cavendish are faster than me. I was very happy to beat them, that was a big moment for me.”

Katusha’s riders helped and supported their leader during the whole race. With more or less 50 km to go, Pavel Brutt and Aliaksandr Kuchynski went to the front of the peloton to lead it in chasing the breakaway of the day (7 riders from the beginning of the race and 4 riders at that moment). The advantage of the break started to come down and as the Cipressa climb started, it was almost caught.

In that moment it was Vincenzo Nibali from Astana who attacked. The Italian rider stayed in front of the race until the beginning of the final climb on the Poggio di Sanremo, when the peloton caught him. At the Poggio and then on the descent Luca Paolini went in front to control the situation for Alexander Kristoff.

With 1.5 km to go, Paolini took Kristoff on his wheel and brought him to the front. With 500 meters to go the bunch sprint was opened up and Katusha’s rider became the winner of 2014 Milan.Sanremo. Taking second and third place were Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) and Ben Swift of Sky.

“I was far back on the Poggio so Luca had to wait a while to bring me back,” Kristoff said. “I wasn't with him, but he just knew what to do and brought me to the front. I just said, ‘I'm here Luca,’ and he brought me to the front. He could stay in the group, follow the attacks and he did a great job. I'm very thankful to him.

“The tactic was for Luca to follow the attacks, and for me to survive. He’s a strong rider who can follow any attack. I’m not strong enough to ride that way, but I can stay in the group. He had to wait a long time for me, before bringing me back.

“Nibali would have to have been really strong to stay away. If a big group had gone after him, it would probably have made it all the way. When we reached the foot of the Poggio after the descent, I was really happy to see that we would be sprinting for victory.

"In the last kilometres, I felt good, but I didn’t know how the others were feeling. Normally Greipel and Cavendish are better than me, but it was great to beat them and cross the line first. It went my way today - but you need a bit of luck to win a race like this.

“I already have a good position in the team, so that won’t change, but it’s a big victory and a huge step for me. I’ve won a stage in Tour de Suisse, and I have an Olympic medal, but this will stay with me for the rest of my career.

"I’m just super happy that I have this victory, It’s unbelievable. With the extra climb, it will be much more difficult for the sprinters, including me, but I won’t know until I try it, so I’ll be here next year also.”

"Alexander is a real warrior," manager Viacheslav Ekimov said. "He is always motivated and he never complains. He always does his job properly. And he really deserved a win like this, as well as the whole Katusha Team.

"We were motivated today to fight for the good result. Did we think about the victory? Why not? We had a strong team and a strong leader. I saw some tough moments on the Poggio, but then I saw Paolini taking care of Kristoff on the flats and I figured it was today or never for a big win.

"This victory is especially important for our team and Russian cycling. Kristoff is not a Russian rider but our team is a Russian team and this victory brings a great motivation for our youth. Taking such a victory, Katusha confirms the status of the first Russian professional team and this is the most important thing."

"Getting today’s success, Katusha Team proved to the whole world’s peloton that the team can get the victories at the biggest international level," team founder Igor Makarov said. "During the last 5 years the Katusha Team noted a number of great achievements, and today’s victory is new bright page in Katusha’s history. It was a very beautiful victory. I congratulate the entire team and the whole Russian cycling for this amazing success."

Today’s victory at Milan-Sanremo is the third monumental classics victory of Katusha Team after two wins from Joaquim Rodriguez at Il Lombardia in 2012 and 2013.

After Milan.Sanremo, Katusha Team moved up to 8th place in the UCI WorldTour team’s ranking with 147 points.