Riding for the Emirates UAE Team, the Norwegian completed the redesigned, and apparently tougher, 212.5 kilometres course in a time of 5 hours 13min 25sec to ensure he went home with the victory in this International Cycling Union WorldTour event. 

After several early breakaways earlier in the race, with around three kilometres remaining, the peloton caught up and Colombia's Fernando Gaviria, riding for Quick Step Floors, looked like he was going to clinch the title.

He, however, lost his lead after drifting wide with 500 metres to go, opening the competition back up to the other riders.

It was Kristoff who sneaked to the front of the group and powered himself across the finish line for the win. 

"I was lucky because Gaviria went wrong in the last corner," Kristoff said

"He had a small gap so it would have been hard to close.

"I did not really feel strong.

"On the second lap I was dropped, but luckily I managed to recover and I just got better."

The 30-year-old has now won the Eschborn-Frankfurt – Rund um den Finanzplatz race a record four times having done so in 2014, 2016 and 2017.

The 2015 edition of the race was cancelled the day before it was due to take place following a reported terrorist threat.

The previous record of three wins was jointly held by Kristoff and Germany's Erik Zabel, winner of the race three times in 1999, 2002 and 2005.

Australia's Michael Matthews, riding for Team Sunweb, and Belgium's Oliver Naesen, competing for AG2R-La Mondiale, finished second and third respectively in today's race.

The course was redesigned for today's 57th edition of the race with previously omitted steep hills, including the 3.5km  Billtalhöhe hill, which had to be climbed twice, brought back into the fold.