Thursday saw a very active start to Stage 2 of the Tour of Norway but due to a strong headwind, it was difficult for any riders to escape. The pace was so high that it split the peloton, but still no riders were able to get free. Finally, a kilometer before the day’s first intermediate sprint, a five-man break got clear.

The group built a maximum gap of five minutes on the 193-km stage. The first rider fell back to the peloton as they reached the Category 3 climb situated 21 km from the finish. With 6.5 km remaining, the four remaining escapees were reeled in.

Numerous attacks followed on the run into Langesund, but the race ended in a bunch sprint with Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha) winning for the second consecutive day. Team Novo Nordisk’s James Glasspool finished in the bunch with the same time as Kristoff.

“Chris [Williams] and Stephen [Clancy] tried to get in the break, but we missed it today. Once the break went, we stayed together trying to protect each other on the windy day,” Glasspool said. “On the final climb, the plan was for me to help out Martijn [Verschoor]. We lost contact on the final little climb, and I saw it was only me. I wish I had been in better position heading into the finish, but I used a lot of energy getting over those climbs, so I was pretty empty by the finish.”

Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha) sprinted to the win ahead of Caleb Ewan (Orica GreenEDGE) and Andrew Fenn (Team Sky).

Team Novo Nordisk, the world’s first all-diabetes pro cycling team, continues racing at the Tour of Norway on Friday with Stage 3. The 181.3-km race features two categorized climbs: a Category 2 situated just over 100 km into the day and a Category 1 climb less than 20 km from the finish in Rjukan.