Alexander Salby is starting his first season as a professional rider at the Tropical Amissa Bongo. The young Dane, who was in very good shape and well in sight in the ZLM Tour 2022, is a pure sprinter who wants to progress in the semi-classics. He hopes that luck will be on his side in 2023 and dreams of one day racing Paris-Roubaix.
I see myself as pure sprinter but I have to improve my sprint, to ride some semi-classics with smaller climbs and a sprint, like in Flanders.
Alexander Salby. « I was really happy of my 2022 season, to live more like a pro rider. It was the forst time I could focus on cycling without having to study. I had some bad luck in the beginning of the season, I was run down by a car and broke my collarbone. In one of the first races I was back I fell again and broke my shoulder. It was a tough beginning but I managed to focus on my main objectives, the ZLM Tour and the Nationals in Denmark. But, unfortunately, I got covid after ZLM, where I had been really good with two top 3 and the fourth place in the points classification. I did my best at the Tour of Denmark, just a month after covid. My main objectif in 2022 was to improve my endurance and I think I managed to level it up. But I would have liked to have a victory in 2022. »
« I am now in my first year as a full time pro. And I am very excited for the Tropicale Amissa Bongo, the first race of the new season. I think that we already have good chances to score in Gabon. I think it’s important to get on a positive wave at this time of the season. I’ve had a very winter, I was not run down by a car this time 😉… I managed to stay injury and sickness free. I expect that my season will be very long, that I’ll have a lot more opportunities to show myself and to help my team mates. 2023 will be a different year for me and I’m really looking foward to learning a lot about racing. This year will be my first full UCI season and it will be interesting to see how my body will react to that, how far my motivation will go. The beginning of the season in Belgium for me should be at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, GP Samyn, GP Monseré, Bredene and Brugge-De Panne, the Region Pays de Loire Tour. Roubaix is a possibility, I had once done on the U23 version and, if i go there, my objective will be to go as far as possible and survive, but I have to remain realistic. But starting there is a child’s dream. »
Amissa Bongo is a very good season start for me. The race, which I’ll discover, looks quite flat. I know that a lot can happen in such a race, there is a big difference in level in the peloton, it’s also the first race for the riders. It can end up as a really tactical race, with only six riders per team. I’m sure we’ll have many opportunities.
