Hansen Wins Tour Of Norway Third Stage

23 May 2015 11:28
Jesper Hansen of Tinkoff Saxo has won the third stage of the Tour of Norway. The third stage was a 185km stage from Skien to Rjukan which had Katusha's in form sprinter Alexander Kristoff in the leader's jersey.

Five riders in Karlsson (Tre Berg), Lunke (Joker), Gjølberg (FixIT.no), Forfang (Ringeriks-Kraft) and Bugge (Sparenbanken Sør) were straight on the attack and formed the break which went out to 7.45 before Forfang took the sprint after fifty three kilometres.

The gap was at seven minutes before Lunke took the second sprint and the lead dropped to 5.40 at the halfway stage.

With 57kms left, the gap was down to 2.40 but Trek Factory Racing started to chase the escapers down and they were only a minute ahead with 35 kilometres and the Flisetjønn climb with it's twenty kilometres of descending.

Lunke tried to get away but was caught with less than thirty kilometres to go.

Carl Hagen and Christian Eiking attacked on the climb as did Edvald Boasson-Hagen and David Lopez who led until he was joined by Jesper Hansen of Tinkoff Saxo with 23 kilometres to go.

Hansen went away on the final kilometre of the climb and he was not to be caught, staying away to win the stage ahead of Boasson-Hagen at 47 seconds, Santaromita, Lopez and Larsson.

Hansen told his team's press office: “It was indeed a fantastic feeling to cross the line taking my first professional win. It’s a great feeling to be the first on the line and the way I won means a lot to me. I’m really happy and would like to thank the entire team for their effort. They controlled the break and Chris Anker helped me a lot on the final climb.

“Of course, now I’ll do everything in my power to secure the jersey and the overall win. Fortunately, my rivals need more than bonus seconds and with Boasson Hagen 38 seconds from me as second in the GC, I’ll need to pay special attention to him, while the team in general must try to control the events”.

Source: DSG