Intro:

Katusha rider Alexander Kristoff takes victory at the Scheldeprijs one-day classic in Belgium

Script:

The Scheldeprijs one-day classic cycle race took place in Belgium on Wednesday - with the field tackling a 200-kilometre journey from Antwerp to Schoten.

That elite field did have some notable absentees ahead of the start.

Defending champion Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin) elected not to start the race after a lingering illness that started at the Tour Down Under in January.

Also absent was three-time winner Mark Cavendish (Etixx-QuickStep) and fellow sprinter Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal).

Seven riders formed the day's escape group after around 30 kilometres: Frederik Backaert (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Matteo Busato (Southeast), Laurens De Vreese (Astana), Huub Duyn (Roompot), Vincent Jerome (Europcar), Tanner Putt (UnitedHelathcare) and Kenneth Van Bilsen (Cofidis).

The break was tightly controlled by a combination of teams at the front of the peloton, and achieved its biggest gap over the bunch of four-and-a-half minutes at the 50-km point.

The gap was slowly but surely chipped away.

With 25 kilometres to go, it was just 23 seconds as Katusha led the chase, but the break was allowed to dangle out the front until the final four kilometres when the catch was made.

Disaster struck in the final kilometre, as a crash near the front of the peloton brought down a swathe of riders. A handful were left to contest the sprint, but none could match the form of Alexander Kristoff.

The Katusha rider powered over the line to win the sprint, adding the victory at the Scheldeprijs to the one that came at the Tour of Flanders just days ago.

With that the Norwegian sealed his 11th victory of the season.

Edward Theuns (Topsport Vlaanderen) took second place, with Belarusian Yauheni Hutarovich (Bretagne Seche Environnement) in third.