Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) was one of the favourites for the sprinter-friendly inaugural edition of the Arctic Tour of Norway which starts tomorrow but the Norwegian has to forfeit his participation. Suffering from pneumonia, the sprinter will be unable to race and leaves his team without its star rider for the race.

Alexander Kristoff had a good chance of taking his first ever stage race win in the Arctic Tour of Norway whose inaugural edition starts tomorrow and runs for four days over mostly flat terrain. Having just finished his first Tour de France, the Norwegian is in splendid condition and planned on adding to his home win tally which was boosted by his three stage wins in the Glava Tour of Norway in May.

There will, however, be no home wins for Kristoff this time as pneumonia has forced him to cancel his participation. His right lung has been hit by a bacterial infection for which he now takes antibiotics and the fast sprinter suffers from a 39-degree fever.

More tests will be done to identify the exact type of bacteria but for now there won't be any racing for Kristoff.

"It is such a pity for Alexander and our team because after Tour de France he was in a great shape and could get some nice results in the next races, including the Arctic Tour of Norway for which he was very motivated," sports director Valerio Piva says. "Anyway, we all wish Alex a quick recovery and are expecting him to be back very soon."

With Kristoff out of the race, Katusha is left with just 5 riders in its line-up unless a replacement is selected. Sprinting duties are now likely to fall into the hands of Rüdiger Selig and Marco Haller.