Storm Ingebrigtsen (Team Coop-Repsol) was the last rider standing from an original breakaway, making it to the finish line by a whisker ahead of a chase group to claim the victory on stage 1 at the Tour of Norway.
Ingebrigtsen was part of an original six rider breakaway that was reduced to three on the run in to the shorter finishing circuits where he launched an attack on his rivals to go solo into in Solakrossen.
He crossed the line just three seconds ahead of a small chase group. Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) won the sprint for second ahead of Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
Ingebrigtsen also secured the event's first leader's jersey and he sits 11 seconds ahead of Brennan and an additional three seconds ahead of Del Grosso ahead of stage 2 on Friday.
How it unfolded
The opening stage at the Tour of Norway offered the field a 179.2km route to and from Solakrossen. A relatively flat course with a gradual 7km climb at Seldalsbakken and a 1.8km climb at Helland before a flat run-in to the finishing circuits.
The early breakaway emerged in the first 10km of racing that included Daniel Årnes (Van Rysel Roubaix), Trym Brennsæter (Tirol KTM Cycling), Ludvik Holstad (Lillehammer CK Continental), Eirik Vang Aas and Storm Ingebrigtsen (both Team Coop-Repsol), and Joshua Gudnitz (Team ColoQuick).
The six riders pushed their lead out to more than three minutes at the halfway point of the race with Visma-Lease a Bike and Uno-X Mobility taking up the chase from the field behind.
Brennsæter was the first rider distanced from the breakaway over the Helland ascent as the gap to the five remaining escapees dropped to just over a minute with 65km left to race.
A crash in the peloton resulted in separations among the main field, which split in two, with a front group of roughly 25 riders including Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X Mobility), Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Brennan.
UAE Team Emirates-XRG did the lion's share of the work at the front of the rsmall group holding the gap to the breakaway at 1:30 on the flat roads toward the Solakrossen circuits.
The breakaway was reduced to just four as Årnes, Vang Aas, Ingebrigtsen and Gudnitz held onto a slim 20-second lead into the final three kilometres.
As the four raced into the final stretch, Ingebrigtsen launched his sprint first, as his rivals were caught and passed by a small chase group of nine. However, the Norwegian managed to hold off the chasers to claim the victory and the first leader's jersey of the four-day event.
Results
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