It was another cold and wet stage in Norway, but it didn’t stop the apparently untouchable Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) from snagging yet another home victory. Jasper Stuyven showed his sprinting prowess with a fantastic second place in the 215-kilometer second stage after a great final leadout from Danny van Poppel.

Stuyven described the sprint finish:

“The team kept me in the front at the end and Danny put me in really good position with one kilometer to go and I was in Kristoff’s wheel and I thought why not go before him and then he has to come around.  So I just went, and at the end he was the only one who passed me. Of course, maybe now you can say why not wait and then come around him? But yeah, if you don’t win you can always say you should have done this or that. I am pretty happy with the decision I took to go a little bit earlier, and I think it turned out pretty well.

“When you sprint, you sprint for the victory, and not thinking about what the others are doing; I was not waiting to sprint for second. I am happy with the second place especially since Kristoff has been winning a lot all season.”

Stuyven finished with the front group yesterday and today’s second place finish moved him into second overall and showed he is a serious contender for the final podium Sunday.

“We think the GC will be decided by the bonus seconds and sprint finishes so for sure we will try and keep me in a good position to try for a top three the next days,” continued Stuyven.

Dirk Demol praised the high finish of the young Belgian after he was given the team's leadership role today:

“Second place behind Kristoff is, of course, a good result and Jasper proved again that he can do well in one-day races and also in the sprints in the stage races. It was good to see that. Jasper finished in the first group yesterday so today we decided to play his card. It was not easy, always up and down – two kilometers up, two kilometers down – but this is a parcours he can perform well in, and now he has to fight for the GC.”

It was a cold, long miserable day on the bike leaving many riders fighting the cold rather than contesting a race and it was a decimated peloton that arrived at the finish. Trek Factory Racing still had four of its six men, enough support to aid Stuyven in the finale where van Poppel selflessly reversed his usual sprinter role to back Stuyven’s GC ambition.

“I have to say today again was terrible, terrible weather and it was six hours in the saddle and raining almost all day in 6-7 degrees Celsius. We had most riders there at the end; Stijn was not there because I think he made a mistake and I don’t think he had enough clothing on, he was frozen, and the same with Gert [Steegmans]. But Fabian [Cancellara], Laurent [Didier] and Danny gave great help to Jasper in the finale,” Dirk Demol said.

“We started off in the dry conditions, but after it was pouring rain and a lot colder than yesterday. I managed pretty well, and only felt the cold after 140 kilometers when the peloton slowed down a little bit.  I changed jackets and gloves during the race, and only my feet were a little bit cold. I heard that the other guys were a lot colder than me – it was a cold day, but not the coldest on the bike for me since I started racing my bike,” Stuyven said.

The Tour des Fjords continues tomorrow with another similar stage, although significantly shorter at 164 kilometers.