Mike Teunissen (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) took the sprint victory on a shortened stage 1 at the Tour of Norway. The Dutchman crossed the finish line first to take the win ahead of Tobias Lund Andresen (Team DSM) and Jordi Meeus (Bora-hansgrohe) in Hovden.
Prologue winner Ben Tulett (Ineos Grenadiers) finished safely in the field and maintained his lead in the overall classification heading into stage 2 from Valle to Stavanger on Sunday.
Organisers were forced to shorten stage 1 at the Tour of Norway, which was originally 206km, due to adverse weather conditions. The race start was moved from Jondal to Røldal, and the field raced the last 85.2km into Hovden.
It was raining on the start line in Røldal, but an early breakaway formed to include Gijs Leemreize (Jumbo-Visma), Julien Moreno (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Bradley Symonds (Saint Piran), and Trym Brennsæter (Norway).
The four riders gained 15 seconds on the field but were soon caught by the peloton led by Ineos Grenadiers.
Jumbo-Visma took over the pace-setting at the only climb, Bykleheivegen, with 29 kilometres to go. Lorenzo Milesi (Team DSM) attacked and picked up full mountain points, with Mathias Vacek (Trek-Segafredo) and Ã…dne Holter (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) following over the top.
Bora-Hansgrohe set up their sprinter Meeus in the final, but Intermarché-Circus-Wanty took over, delivering Teunissen to the stage win.
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