A sprint finish in Norheimsund saw the familiar face of Team Katusha’s Alexander Kristoff cross the finish line first, but in Wednesday’s Stage 1 of the Tour des Fjords the Norwegian rider was joined by teammate Marco Haller for second place. Haller lead-out Kristoff and had good enough position and speed to carry his effort to the line for the 1-2 placing on the stage podium. The victory marks the 23rd win of the season for Team Katusha and 14th personal win in 2015 for Alexander Kristoff.

"It’s been a great season so far. I think the main part of this success is the team that has continued to work for and support me. We have a very strong group and we work very well together. You can see today that we are numbers 1 and 2 and this is a fantastic result. I’m happy to win here in my “home” race. I’m still not quite at my real home but I’m getting closer. It was quite slippery in the corner coming to the finish line and I lost Haller’s wheel a little bit at that moment, but I came back to him. Then when he started it was perfect timing, such a good lead out. At 350 m to go I saw he was still sprinting for second place and it was just great to see that," said race leader Alexander Kristoff. Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEdge) sprinted in for the third position on the 177 km road stage from Bergen to Norheimsund.

Working hard all day to control were teammates Jacopo Guarnieri and Dmitriy Kozonchuk, attentive to the break and action on the road and making sure Kristoff remained protected and in front of the main field.

"With this strong team we had everything under control thanks for Jacopo Guarnieri and Dmitriy Kozonchuk. They controlled so well. We were confident on the climb and the team never panicked. We just stuck together and at the top we were in good position. At 600-700 m to go it was a little bit tricky but we had the right move and the right timing also thanks to Simon Špilak and Sven Erik Bystrøm. I think it’s great that we take first and 2nd. We have real power in our squad. I am working for Alex here and we want him to win this – it’s his home Tour. Winning with him feels like I’m winning myself and I’m very happy finishing off second," said an enthusiastic Marco Haller.

Racing continues on Thursday in the 5-stage 2015 Tour des Fjords. The stage is the longest at 205 km. It begins in Jondal and ends in Haugesund.