Kristoff wins sprint in Alta

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Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) made it a second Norwegian victory in two days on stage 2 of the Arctic Race of Norway. Thor Hushovd (BMC) finished second to make it a Norwegian 1-2 with Edward Theuns (Topsport-Vlaanderen) coming home in third.

As the road kicked up immediately after the flamme rouge, Giant-Shimano took to the front of the peloton. The Dutch team looked in command as they tried to set-up Marcel Kittel for victory. However, just as Jonas Ahlstrand came through as Kittel’s last man, Kristoff made his move.

Using the Giant-Shimano train for shelter initially, Kristoff came from the safety of the peloton and came through the narrow gap on the right of Ahlstrand. The dive up the inside caught many by surprise and the remaining sprinters were left scrabbling to try and catch him.

Hushovd began closing on his compatriot, but Kristoff still had time to sit up and celebrate his win. After such a good leadout, Kittel struggled with the uphill finish and finished fourth. Stage 1 winner Lars Petter Nordhaug (Belkin), also from Norway, kept hold of the leader’s jersey, despite being involved in a crash earlier in the day.

"It was an uphill finish during the whole final kilometer," Kristoff said. "Of course, it was not really a hard climb but anyway the finish was tough enough. I had good legs today as well as yesterday. The team worked very well and the guys did everything they could for me. Marco led me into the final kilometer, but with 400 meters I was still a little bit inside because of the uphill. But later, I found my way on the right side and I started my sprint.

"Yeah, I am happy to win here in Norway again. Every time it is a pleasure for me. I still have one more chance on the final day because tomorrow will be too hard for me. Anyway, I will try to do a strong race, because it could be like training for upcoming races. After some rest after Tour de France step-by-step I am coming back into good shape."

How it happened

After a ground-breaking day one, with the hilltop finish in the North Cape, the riders almost broke another record on day two. That is, finishing the furthest behind schedule. A big headwind meant that it was always going to be a long day in the saddle. A few brave soles decided to brave the wind without the protection of the peloton and four men did escape.

Krister Hagen (ØsterHus-Ridley), Andreas Erland (Sparebanken Sør), Laurent Evrard (Wallonie – Bruxelles) and Petter Theodorsen (Ringeriks – Kraft) were those hardly souls. Donned in their arm-warmers to protect them from the harsh winds, the peloton was happy to leave them out there.

There was a worrying moment for Nordhaug when he moved over to the side of the road and was hit from behind by on of the Roubaix Lille Métropole riders. The Norwegian was unscathed, but the same couldn’t be said for his bike and he had to stop for some mid-race repairs. Fortunately for Nordhaug, the headwind meant that the peloton hadn’t gone too far up the road.

Hagen and Erland were the last of the escapees to be caught by the peloton with just over 10 kilometres remaining. As the sprinters’ teams began to jostle for position, one of the IAM Cycling riders hit the deck and took out riders from his own team, MTN-Qhubeka and NetApp-Endura. It was unclear what had caused the accident, but it was believed that he may have hit a bottle that had been discarded by another rider. Most were able to continue, but MTN’s Martin Reimer was left with a suspected broken collarbone.

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