Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) lost the leader's jersey in the Tour des Fjords when he failed to join two strong groups that escaped in the finale. The Norwegian admitted that the race had been too hard for him but with bonus seconds in the final two sprint stages he still hopes to take the overall victory.

Team Katusha’s rider Alexander Kristoff finished 10th today in the third stage of Tour des Fjords in Norway. Kristoff won the massive sprint from the bunch, which finished 10 seconds behind the stage winner Magnus Cort Nielsen from Cult Energy Vital Water.

"We knew the stage would be hard and tried to do everything possible to minimize the time we could lose. On the final climbs there were a lot of attacks, which was impossible to control. When a group of riders with Marcato attacked, I tried to follow this group but at this point of the season it was too much for me. Anyway we lost just a few seconds while two more stages are still ahead. We are still in the game," said Alexander Kristoff.

The third stage (Hjelmeland – Forsand, 163 km) included a number of climbs, both in the beginning and in the final part of the race. The breakaway, which was formed on the first climbs, was completely caught inside the last 25 km. After that a lot of attacks exploded the main group. As a result, two groups of 3 and 6 riders broke away. The peloton tried to catch them, but did not manage to do it. In the final kilometer both groups came together, Magnus Cort Nielsen was the rider sprinting away from the group who won. Second place was taken by Michael Valgren from Tinkoff-Saxo, and third place was for Jérôme Baugnies from Wanty.

Cort Nielsen became the new GC leader, while Alexander Kristoff is 4th at 13 seconds behind the leader. Katusha’s rider still leads in the points classification (green jersey).

"Alexander has only 13 seconds to the first place now. I think that’s a good position for the counterattack in the next two stages, where we can get some good results. Katusha continues fighting for the stages and, why not, for the general classification of the Tour des Fjords as well. The team is motivated to earn a good result, so all big things are still to come," said sports director of KatushaTorsten Schmidt.

Tomorrow will be held the 4th stage of the Tour des Fjords – 176,6 km from 2020Parc to Stavanger.