It was a final trip to the mountains of Norway in Saturday’s stage 4 as the peloton made its way uphill on the queen stage of climbing for the last time before the race conclusion tomorrow. Knowing it would be another challenging day, Alexander Kristoff, riding in the green points jersey, rode well within himself and came in with an early group, 36-seconds behind stage winner Amets Txurruka of Caja Rural.

"At the start of the race I was only a five seconds from the podium and also the leader of the green jersey so we wanted to be sure to take the points if they were available. I was able to win the first intermediate sprint so I took the points there and for the second sprint two guys were up the road but I was able to take the third place. This means I gained four seconds along the way but at the end I lost something like 34-seconds so overall I think I lost more time on the GC this stage. But if I can win a third stage tomorrow, it will be a perfect Tour of Norway. I hope I can also keep the green jersey. We have goals for tomorrow so we’ll see how it goes," said team leader Alexander Kristoff.

It was a podium of veteran riders with Txurruka, 32, joined by David Lopez (Sky), age 34, for second place and oldest rider in the race at age 43, Davide Rebellin (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) for third. A youngster still leads the race, however, with yesterday’s stage winner Jesper Hansen, 24, holding the best cumulative time by 54-seconds to Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhuebeka ) and 1.05 to Lopez. Team Katusha’s Alexander Kristoff is 9th at 1.47.

A breakaway of two riders at 75 km to go included Bob Jungels of Trek Factory Racing on the 167km stage beginning in Rjukan. The two held an advantage of more than seven minutes, but the Lotto Soudal rider Ligthart dropped away with 46 km to go, leaving Jungels to work alone for another 34 km before he was pulled back into the fold and the group was all together. The final climb to Havsdasgrenda at less than 3 km to go provided more attacks, including one by race leader Hansen, but it was Txrruka’s move in the last kilometer that proved to be the winning one.

The final stage on Sunday is 175 km from Flå – Hønefoss (Eggemoen). It should be a day for the likes of Alexander Kristoff and the fast men in the sport of cycling.