The riders were greeted with rain and a cool 10 degrees Celsius for the 174.3-kilometer first stage, which saw a reduced bunch arrive to contest the stage win. Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) continued his winning ways from the Tour of Norway last week and notched another sprint victory in his home country.

Jasper Stuyven was the highest placed from Trek Factory Racing after a series of punctures in the final circuits dropped both Laurent Didier and Fabian Cancellara from contention, and the final climb proved a little too much for Danny van Poppel.

Stuyven arrived with the decimated front group that numbered only 23 riders but in the finale was held up in the sprint and finished in 11th place.

“Just Jasper was in the first group,” said director Dirk Demol. “Stijn [Devolder] and Fabian were in the second group with Danny just behind, and they went full gas to try and bring Danny back, but they just didn’t make it. Jasper gave it a go in the sprint, but he was blocked by a rider and couldn’t make a sprint like he normally can. So that was our day.  Everything went well until we started the circuits under heavy rain. So we have to give it another try tomorrow.”

Demol described how the stage unfolded: “All day up and down and almost all day rain too. Katusha controlled the 6-rider breakaway all day, and at the end had help from a few other teams. We waited for the final, but yeah, we all know that Kristoff is almost unbeatable now, but anyway we had the intention to give it a try.

“In the end there were two local circuits of 12kms, and at the end of each a narrow climb of 2.5kms and 6% average followed by a tricky descent. At the bottom of the first climb with 24kms to go Laurent had a puncture, and just before the final climb Fabian punctured. Fabian managed to get back by the bottom of the climb but it was stretched out and at the top of the climb there was a split of maybe 25-30 riders. It’s just the way it was - our bad luck goes on…”

Although there are no major climbs in the five-day Tour des Fjords, there are no flat stages either. The rolling parcours every day required strong legs, and Trek Factory Racing brought in some of its best Classics specialists to handle the West Norway terrain. Fabian Cancellara, Stijn Devolder, Gert Steegmans and Jasper Stuyven provide ample power in breakaways or to lead out Danny van Poppel, while Laurent Didier can take his opportunity over some of the longer climbs.

Demol explained, “First of all we will chase a stage win. It’s going to be difficult as we all know how Kristoff is going and he won this last year. But anyway we can try from a breakaway; we have four more chances to go and we want to go home with a result. It’s a hard race - every day up and down! But the motivation is there.”