Dylan Groenewegen hasn’t been able to repeat yesterday’s succes in the Tour of Norway. The sprinter of Team LottoNL-Jumbo was positioned well in the front of the peloton, but the ascent to the finish line took a little too long.

According to sports director Nico Verhoeven, the sprint was a lot harder than yesterday's. “The finish was at the top of an ascent of 1,800 metres. We had hoped that Dylan was good enough to sprint. At first, it indeed looked like he could sprint. But four hundred metres from the finish he was done.”

Timo Roosen noticed that his leader had a hard time. “I tried to reduce my speed a little, so that I could take Dylan with me in my wheel. In the end, my speed just wasn’t high enough to be able to compete for the win.” 

Tomorrow’s stage is the stage where Groenewegen was successful last year. “The arrival is uphill again, but the slope is a lot shorter. Yet it remains a difficult arrival”, Nico Verhoeven said.

Lars Boom will not start in the stage. The Dutchman almost fell because, just in front of him, Preben van Hecke braked unnecessarily hard. Boom reacted disproportionately and was disqualified.