Defending champion Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) continued his domination of the Tour des Fjords when he took a comfortable sprint victory in stage 2 of his home race. Having again been given the perfect lead-out, he reacted quickly to a long sprint from Jasper Stuyven (Trek) and easily passed the Belgian to make it two in a row and extend his overall lead.

With lots of lumpy stages with short, tough climbs, the Tour des Fjords is tailor-made for strong sprinters who can make it over the ascents and finish it off with a powerful final burst. That makes it perfectly suited to local hero Alexander Kristoff and so it is no wonder that he has dominated the first two editions of the race, winning several stages and the overall victory in 2014.

This year he has again entered the race as the overwhelming favourite and with yesterday’s victory in the opening stage he has made his intentions clear. Today he confirmed his status as the strongest rider in the race when he took a comfortable victory in the bunch sprint on stage 2.

Like yesterday his Katusha team had done the majority of the work to bring back the early break but inside the final 25km, they had been given the perfect opportunity to rest when Joker took over. The Norwegian team led the race for most of the final part to bring back all attackers and set the scene for a bunch sprint.

The team was still in control with 3km to go where a Madison rider gave them a short chance to breathe. They went back to work while the lead-out trains started to position themselves further back.

Sven Erik Bystrøm finally took control for Katusha as they entered the final 2.5km. With 2.1km to go, Michael Valgren hit the front for Tinkoff-Saxo but it was too early and so he again slowed down, allowing Katusha to get back in control with Bystrøm. The Norwegian allowed Sparebanken to take over with 1.5km to go but quickly slotted into third position.

With 1.2km to go, Bystrøm again hit the front, followed by his teammates Marco Haller, Jacopo Guarnieri and Kristoff. Again he slowed down to allow Jaco Venter (MTN-Qhubeka) to take a short turn but the South African quickly slowed down when he realized that he had lost his teammates.

The four Katusha riders were still on the front as they passed the flamme rouge where Haller took over. Edvald Boasson Hagen and Kristian Sbaragli (MTN) moved up next to them before Guarnieri made his lead-out.

Jasper Stuyven tried to surprise them by doing a long sprint but Kristoff immediately realized the danger. He reacted quickly and easily distanced the Belgian to take his second win in a row. Asbjørn Kragh Andersen (Trefor) took third.

With the victory, Kristoff extended his overall lead to 14 seconds over Stuyven who moves into second. He has a chance to make it three in a row tomorrow when the riders tackle another mostly flat stage. In the early part, they will go through a tunnel that will end with a tough KOM sprint to get back to sea level and then there’s another KOM sprint with 21.2km to go. From there, it is descending or flat, meaning that it should be another day for the sprinters.

The longest stage

After the lumpy opening stage, it was more of the same in stage 2 of the Tour des Fjords which brought the riders over 215km from Jondal to Haugesund. Right from the beginning, the riders went up a categorized climb before they again hit flat roads. In the middle section, there were another to categorized climbs but the final 60km were made up of the usual tricky Norwegian roads with lots of ups and downs.

For the second day in a row, it was a wet day when the riders left Jondal to head out on the longest stage of the race. With a tough uphill start, it was no surprise that the race got off to a fast beginning with lots of attacks and it was Lennard Hofstede (Joker) who got the first small gap.

The break is formed

While Martin Irvine (Madison) left the race, the Dutchman was brought back before Jerome Baugnies (Wanty) won the KOM sprint, followed by Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural) and Carl Fredrik Hagen (Sparebanken) and instead his teammate Antwan Tolhoek took off. He was joined by Ole Andre Austevoll (FixIT) and Michal Podlaski (ActiveJet) and that group suited the peloton well as they quickly slowed down and allowed the gap to grow to more than 5 minutes.

The gap went out to 8.50 when the riders got to the first intermediate sprint after 57km where Tolhoek beat Podlaski and Austevoll. It was now time for Katusha to take control and it was Dmitry Kozontchuk who did the early work in the peloton.

The gap comes down

The effort paid off and at the 75km mark, he had brought the gap down to 6 minutes. Meanwhile, they hit the biggest climb of the day where Austevoll was first to crest the summit, followed by Podlaski, Tolhoek and Baugnies.

Yannick Eijssen (Wanty) left the race in the feed zone while the peloton continued its slow comeback. At the 95km mark, the gap was 5.10 and it was now melting away.  It came down to 2.45 before the peloton again slowed down and with 80km to go, it was back up to 3.20.

Austevoll tries his hand

The peloton again accelerated as they started to climb the final categorized ascent and it was now Chris Anker Sørensen (Tinkoff-Saxo) working with Kozontchuk. While they brought the gap down to 2.10, Austevoll beat Tolhoek and Podlaski in the sprint for the points. Baugnies sprinted ahead to take the final point on offers.

With 60km to go, the gap was only 1.40 and Austevoll now decided to make an attack. He was brought back in time for the final intermediate sprint where Tolhoek was fastest, followed by Austevoll and Podlaski.

The attacking starts

Austevoll was clearly the strongest and with 53km to go, he attacked again. This time he got an immediate gap and he managed to reopen his advantage to 2.45 as he entered the final 50km.

With 43km to go, the gap was even 3.20 but now the attacking started in the peloton. Tre For Bluewater were active and this forced Katusha to ride actively. Christian Meier (Orica-GreenEDGE) also tried a move but as Katusha brought it back, Sørensen and Kozontchuk went back to work.

More attacks

As they hit a 23% climb, Laurent Didier (Trek) launched the next attack and he was joined by Søren Kragh (Trefor) and Adam Yates (Orica). Katusha sent Simon Spilak and Sven Erik Bystrøm across before they brought it back together.

The acceleration had brought the gap down to 1.25 and the two chasers had now been brought back. Spilak took a short turn on the front before Kozontchuk and Sørensen again took over.

The break is caught

With 25km to go, the gap was only 25 seconds and it was now evident that Austevoll was suffering. This prompted Haavard Blikra (Coop) to attack and he managed to bridge the gap.

The duo were just around 15 seconds ahead as Joker now took control of the peloton. Reidar Børgersen, Truls Korsaeth and Edwin Wilson set a fast pace and with 19km to go, they brought the front dup back.

Thomas Larsen (Sparebanken) launched an immediate attack and he managed to stay clear for 3km before Joker brought him back. From there, the Norwegian team stayed in control until Pawel Bernas (Activejet) attacked with 7km to go. He was joined by Andreas Erland (Sparebanken) and those two riders worked well together to stay clear for four kilometres before Joker brought them back and set the scene for the bunch sprint.