Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) won stage 2 of the Arctic Race of Norway after he took flight in the novel bunch sprint on the runway at Bardufoss Airport. The freshly-crowned European champion delivered a powerful effort in the final 200 metres to claim a dominant victory ahead of Hugo Hofstetter (Cofidis) and Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty-Groupe Gobert)
Dylan Teuns (BMC) finished safely in the main peloton to retain his overall lead. The Belgian succeeded in clipping off the front on the final lap of the finishing circuit to take third at the final intermediate sprint and pick up a bonus second for his troubles.
Truls Korsaeth (Astana) had led on the penultimate passage through the finish line after a spirited solo attack in a mammoth gear, but the Norwegian had sorely miscalculated his effort. The youngster raised his arms in celebration as he crossed the line before the sound of the bell alerted him to his error. To his credit, he survived another couple of kilometres off the front before he was pegged back by the bunch.
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The race had earlier been animated by a six-man move featuring Erwann Corbel (Fortuneo-Oscaro), Dimitri Claeys (Cofidis), Elias Spikseth (Team Fixit.no), Nikolay Mihaylov (CCC-Sprandi Polkowice), Javier Megias Leal (Novo Nordisk) and Zhandos Bizhigitov (Astana), but on terrain that lent itself so obviously to a sprint finish, they were never likely to stay away.
Kristoff’s Katusha-Alpecin squad was prominent on the final lap, with Reto Hollenstein leading into the final kilometre on the wide and exposed runway, before Michael Mørkøv expertly guided Kristoff to the final 200 metres.
“We came to the Arctic Race to win a stage. Yesterday, I just missed out but today I won to keep the good run of the last few weeks,” said Kristoff, who responded to a disappointing Tour de France by winning the RideLondon Classic and the European Championships of successive weekends.
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