Tour de France stage 11 winner Soren Waerenskjold admitted that watching British great Mark Cavendish as a child is his main source of inspiration as he learnt to sprint.
Cavendish, who was one of the smallest riders in the peloton, could not be any more different than the hulking Waerenskjold, who is one of the biggest.
The Norwegian stands at 1m95cm and weighs 92kg, compared to Cavendish who was 20cm shorter and more than 20kg lighter.
And yet Waerenskjold, 26, modelled his sprint style on the Manx Missile.
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“Since I was young, I’ve been sprinting this way,” Waerenskjold said after winning the 161km stage from Vichy to Nevers in central France.
“I think when I was 14, I was probably watching Cavendish sprint — his face was almost touching his front wheel. Maybe it was some inspiration from that.
“I started sprinting that way when I was young, then it’s hard to change. I don’t really think about my style of sprinting, even though I’m a tall guy,” he stated.
Waerenskjold launched his sprint from a long way out while other sprinters hesitated as no one’s lead-out train functioned.
He then held off the fast-finishing Olav Kooij and Jasper Philipsen to claim the victory. The longer sprint suited Waerenskjold’s diesel engine, according to his Uno-X Mobility sporting director Stig Kristiansen.
“He’s well above 90kg that’s why… he needs to come with a certain momentum from the back,” Kristiansen said.
“You saw today the gap open on the right side, he even got the shortest line around the right hander,” he added.
Waerenskjold’s victory continued an impressive Tour showing for the Norwegian team, which was admitted to the World Tour for the first time this year.
They held the yellow jersey for two days earlier in the race through Torstein Traeen, who then crashed out of the race with concussion and broken ribs.
It was also the second year running the team had won the Tour’s 11th stage, after Jonas Abrahamsen last year.
“It’s incredible. Another time stage 11 victory for the team,” said Anders Johannessen, who said the team would try to make it a “tradition” to win the 11th stage every year.
Waerenskjold had actually crashed in Tuesday’s 10th stage and raced with bandaged fingers.
“It’s crazy. We really didn’t believe we were going to win today,” said Tobias Johannessen, the twin brother of Anders.