The longest stage in the Tour des Fjords brought yet another win for Team Katusha and Alexander Kristoff. The Norwegian sprinter chalked up his 15th seasonal win in a mass sprint in Haugesund. His victory gave Russian Team Katusha the 24th of the 2015 racing season.

“We managed to be the first group with both Jacopo Guarnieri and Marco Haller ahead of me in the last kilometer. Marco did a very long pull so Jacopo didn’t have to do so much before I started my sprint. I was actually able to wait a little longer to begin my sprint as Jacopo was still fresh. Stuyven went early and that made me feel a little bit nervous and anxious to go but I felt I had him under control. There are good riders here who I am racing against, so it’s always a pleasure to win,” said team leader Alexander Kristoff to the Katusha website.

Stage 2 began in Jondal with the peloton of 122 riding all day in the falling rain to Haugesund at 205 km. The Katusha teammates rode in protection of race leader Kristoff, consistently managing breaks and attacks before the final action for the group sprint, handily won by Alexander Kristoff. Second place in the stage took Jesper Stuyven from Trek Factory Racing, while the daily podium was completed by Asbjørn Kragh Andersen from Team Trefor – Blue Water.

His second win in two days keeps the race lead for him at 14-seconds ahead of Stuyven and teammate Marco Haller, both on 14-seconds.

Alexander Kristoff leads in the point’s classification, while Team Katusha is first in team classification.

Friday’s stage 3 is 166 km from Stord. The climbs are packed at the end of the course before a quick run into Sauda.