Chris Anker Sorensen doesn’t win many races, but when he does, he wins big. Never the fastest sprinter or purest climber, the Dane is one of the best riders for taking wins from breaks, a true master of beating the peloton.
His wins include a Giro stage on the Terminillo, a Tour of Austria stage on the nation’s most feared mountain, the Kitzbuheler Horn, and a Dauphine stage on La Toussuire. He also has won the Japan Cup and is the current Danish Road Race Champion.
At the start of stage four of the Tour of Britain in Edinburgh, the 31 year old took time to speak to CyclingQuotes about his future and his season.
“My season was not so good, but not bad, a little bit in between. It was nice to ride the second part with the national jersey of course. I am motivated to do well in Britain and in the last few Italian races.”
He hasn’t had a bad season, with top 20s overall in Poland, Austria, Fjords and Norway, and a strong ride to help Rafal Majka in the Dauphine.
It is also key to remember that Sorensen has been a domestique for some of cycling’s great champions, like Alberto Contador and the Schleck brothers. He was the top finishing Tinkoff-Saxo rider GC wise only in Poland, sacrificing his own chances to help others in the other races he did well in. he especially played a key role to help compatriot Jesper Hansen win the Tour of Norway, a big coup for the young man.
Asking him about his chances of winning a race in the coveted Danish jersey, Sorensen acknowledged it would be a difficult task, but that for a rider who attacks like he does, nothing was impossible.
“I think everything is possible, but I’m definitely not one of the big favourites for the upcoming stages and races. I’ve looked at the future races and certainly some of them look really interesting.
Focussing on the Tour of Britain, all the press releases from the team indicated that Robert Kiserlovski would lead the team, even Sorensen himself said that the Croat would be the man in charge of taking team success in Britain.
“I think its Kiserlovski who is leader, he’s in good shape and we will see what happens with the race tomorrow to the summit finish.”
But that wasn’t the case, as Sorensen powered clear on the ride up to Hartside Fell to take eighth on the stage and move himself up to tenth overall, which would improve to ninth overall by the race’s end in London, while Kiserlovski ended 11th. Sorensen will surely have been happy to take his best GC result of the season in a hard race, especially when he wasn’t expecting to lead the team.
Finally, thoughts turned to his future, where he said he had “no” contract for 2016. Meaning Tinkoff-Saxo wouldn’t be keeping a rider who has ridden with the team in its various incarnations since he turned pro in 2005, continuing the Danish exodus of the team, following manager Bjarne Riis and fellow rides Chris Juul-Jensen, Matti Breschel and Michael Morkov out of the team.
However, just yesterday morning, it was announced that Chris would ride with Fortuneo-Vital Concept, new sponsors to the Bretagne-Seche team for next year. This means we should see Sorensen return to his attacking style as he will have more chances to ride for himself. It also means we may see him back on the roads of France for the world’s biggest race for the first time since 2012.
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