Tour of Norway: Kristoff wins stage 2

Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) showed no mercy to his adversaries in the second straight bunch kick of the 2015 Tour of Norway in the charming coastal city of Langesund after a long day in the saddle due to the headwind in the first part of the race.

Kristoff outsprinted Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge), who collected another second place in two days, and Andrew Fenn (Team Sky), who moved up to take over from Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhubeka) in the top three.

"We had a good lead out all the way here," Kristoff enjoyed. "Sven [-Erik Bystrøm] put me in a perfect position for the last k, Marco [Haller] was in the lead at 400 metres, then Jacopo [Guarnieri] started the sprint and at 150, so my turn came. At 70km/h, I thought it should be enough to win with no problem. I didn't want to bring the breakaway back too close because I knew of the hard climb in the finale. It was quite controlled. In the end, many teams were interested in a sprint finish. I had it more under control today than yesterday."

The breakaway, composed of Angel Madrazo (Caja Rural-RGA), Pieter Jacobs (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Anders Skaarseth (Joker), Ole Forfang (Ringeriks-Kraft) and Vegard Bugge (Sparenbanken Sør) after 30km of racing, came to an end with 6.5km to go when Trek and Sky tried to disturb the sprinters' trains with Bob Jungels and David Lopez on the attack.

Earlier on, with 35km to go, the Roompot-Oranje squad initiated echelons but only managed to disorganise the chase led by Katusha, Orica-GreenEdge and MTN-Qhubeka successively.

Just like on day 1, Ewan was the main threat for Kristoff and possibly even more.

"We probably went to the front a little bit too early," the Australian told Cyclingnews. "Adam [Blythe] and I dropped back a little bit, then inside a k to go, Adam dropped me off maybe a few wheels back from Kristoff and then I just hit out, maybe 200 to go and I just dragged racing Kristoff till the line and he beat me in the end.

"It's always disappointing to lose by such a little margin but I can't be really too disappointed to lose to a guy like Kristoff who's one of the best sprinters in the world. He was super strong again today. I was very happy with how the team rode and I was happy with my sprint but I was just weaker."

Kristoff said his new opponent, Ewan, had a lot of speed.

"He has won a few races already this year and he's a first year pro," Kristoff said. "We'll see a lot more from him in years to come."

The Norwegian reached the record number of victories that Mark Cavendish was holding alone with thirteen for the current season and it happened on the Manxman's 30th birthday.

"OK, it's today that we're equal but I don't think it's so important neither for me nor for him," Kristoff commented. "It also depends on which races you are doing and how big your wins are, not only how many."

The Tour of Flanders winner was aware that his second win at the Tour of Norway might have been the last one for this year.

"The next two days will be tough [with an unprecedented 11km long climb and temperatures expected to being below 10° with some rain this Saturday," Kristoff warned. "The last stage is the same I won last year but it's also a tough one so I don't really expect to win it but there's still a chance."

Results

General Classification

Points Classification

Mountains Classification

Best Young Rider

Team Classification