Andy Fenn sprinted to fourth place on the opening stage at the Tour of Norway while Lars Petter Nordhaug began his GC campaign with ninth.

The 182-kilometre test was the domain of the sprinters, with Team Sky opting to play the long game for much of the day, sitting in the peloton in a bid to conserve energy.

As the pace increased on the finishing circuits around Sarpsborg the team moved up, with David Lopez helping to position Nordhaug, and allowing Fenn to jump out of the pack as the sprint took hold.

At the line it was Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) who claimed victory, fending off Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN Qhubeka) to take an early four-second lead.

The final kilometres produced a tense battle between the peloton and the breakaway, with the four riders caught almost in sight of the finish.

Five men headed off early on and carved out a gap of 7:30 before Katusha began to enforce a tempo on the front.

Pim Ligthart and Sean De Bie combined to bridge across the gap for Lotto Soudal. The increased impetus saw the move up front split, with the Lotto pairing pushing onwards alongside Oscar Landa (Team Coop - OsterHus) and Vegard Stake Laengen (Team Joker).

With 20km to go the gap was still two minutes, making the sprint teams work to set up a bunch sprint.