Tour of Norway: Marco Haller wins stage 4

Marco Haller (Bora-Hansgrohe) won stage 4 at the Tour of Norway. The Austrian captured the victory from a bunch sprint ahead of Ethan Vernon (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) and Alexander Kristoff (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) in Kristiansand.

"It was a dangerous final. I don't know why there was no asphalt in the last three kilometres. In my opinion it was way too dangerous to race there. Thankfully, the peloton was a little bit stretched out and I had my teammate keeping me up in front and out of trouble, and I made the best out of it."

It was Haller's first victory since 2015 when he won the overall title at the Tour des Fjords and the Austrian road race title. "The last time I won was here at Tour des Fjords in 2015 so I'm super happy," Haller said. "Obviously Norway is good soil for me."

Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) maintained his lead in the overall classification by 46 seconds ahead of Jay Vine (Alpecin-Fenix) and 1:24 ahead of Lucas Plapp (Ineos Grenadiers).

Tour of Norway's fourth stage was a 232.1km race from Hovden to Kristiansand that was predominantly downhill from the start until undulating final 50km with climbs over Klomra and Gimlekollen, and local circuits in Kristiansand.

An early breakaway emerged that included Frederik Muff (Team ColoQuick), André Drege (Team Coop), Lucas Eriksson (Riwal Cycling), Kamiel Bonneu (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural), and later, Shane Archbold (Bora-Hansgrohe).

Muff took full points at the two intermediate sprints in Valle and Evje.

Trek-Segafredo and Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux set a quick pace behind, managing the gap to the breakaway to ensure a bunch sprint for their fast men in Kristiansand.

QuickStep took charge of the peloton on the final local circuits, catching all but Bonneu from the original breakaway. However, he too was caught at the start of the last lap. 

Nathan Van Hooydonck (Team Jumbo-Visma) made one last attack, but he was caught in the closing kilometre. It was Haller who proved fastest on the day.

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