Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) was the fastest on the uphill sprint to claim the stage 2 victory and the overall race lead at the Tour of Norway.
Brennan launched his sprint in the closing metres to cross the line ahead of runner-up Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull-Bora- hansgrohe) and third-placed Victor Langellotti (Ineos Grenadiers).
The Visma-Lease a Bike rider moved into the overall race lead now 12 seconds ahead of Langellotti and 15 seconds ahead of Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Deceuninck) as the race heads into stage 3 on Saturday.
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The second stage at the Tour of Norway offered the field a 208.1km race from Egersund to Oltedal with a category 2 climb over Rundtjon (4.4km at 6.1%), a category 1 climb over Sirdalstoppen (15.9km at 2.4%) and a late-race category 3 climbs over Dirdal (1.8km at 8.3%) before a descent and then a short uphill to the finish line.
An early breakaway of three emerged that included Kasper Haugland (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development), Brage Aulstad (Lillehammer CK Continental) and Emil Toudal (Team ColoQuick). The trio gain more than six minutes on a large chasing group and an additional minute ahead of the main field.
However, as the breakaway hit the 100km mark, their gap was slashed to four minutes as the chase group and peloton reconnected and pushed the pace in the approach to the base of the 15km Sirdalstoppen ascent.
Jonas Walton (Project Echelon Racing) counter-attacked in an attempt to bridge to the leading trio. His efforts were short-lived and another attack came from Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Thomas Gloag (Visma-Lease a Bike) while on the upper slopes of the Sirdalstoppen.
Over the top, Aulstad was distanced from the breakaway, and he was caught and passed by chasers Bjerg and Gloag. The pair then successfully bridged across to Haugland and Toudal and the four riders continued onward with a 1:30 gap on the peloton.
The gap was reduced to just 30 seconds on a long gradual descent with 30km remaining and the field was all back together before the final 1.8km climb Dirdal that peaked with eight kilometres from the finish line.
Jan Christen (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) made a solo move over the top of the Dirdal climb, and the peloton split apart behind him. Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and Lotto pulling the field back together in the closing kilometres.
Brennan moved to the front of the field followed by Del Grosso, just as Christen tried to launch another attack. But the UAE rider was caught inside the final kilometre as Langellotti started his sprint, only to be caught and passed by a faster Brennan.
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