Tour of Norway 2025 Stage 2

May 28, 2025 The race from Egersund to Oltedal is 208KM, 30KM longer than any other stage this week. The profile is relentlessly rolling with six 3KM to 4KM climbs before the category 1 test of Sirdalstoppen which is 15KM long at 2.4%. The Sirdalstoppen tops out 52KM from the finish but that is not the final test as there are two short but steep hills awaiting the riders. The first is 1.5KM at 8% and comes 8KM from the finish. The stage concludes on top of the second one, 1KM long at just under 7%. It's a really punchy day and will require good fatigue resistance, particularly after the hard and hectic day yesterday. It was still cloudy but the weather had significantly improved from yesterday's rain and wind. Three riders went away early including Kasper Haugland of the Norwegian National Team, Brage Aulstad of Lillehammer CK, and Emil Toudal of ColoQuick. They had a maximum lead of 6 minutes and with 82KM to go, they were holding 4 minutes 45 seconds. With 64KM to go on the long climb of Sirdalstoppen, Mikkel Bjerg of UAE-XRG rode at a very high pace and broke clear over everyone except for Thomas Gloag of Visma-Lease a Bike. Bjerg and Gloag started to pull out a handy advantage to the bunch and Uno-X Mobility and Alpecin-Deceuninck were forced to respond. Gloag was just marking the move and didn't take a single pull but Bjerg pulled the pair 1 minute 30 seconds ahead of the peloton. As the break neared the top with 52KM to go, Aulstad was dropped and the two remaining leaders were just over 1 minute ahead of Bjerg and Gloag and 2 minutes up on the peloton. Bjerg and Gloag caught Haugland and Toudal with 48.5KM to go. Bjerg became increasingly frustrated with Gloag and didn't get a lot of help from the guys that were in the break either. With 34KM to go, Bjerg was visibly mad and threw his gillet to the ground during a conversation with his team car. Bjerg's raid came to an end with 16KM to go when they were all caught by the peloton. At 10KM to go, GC teams and teams with stage ambitions were lined up in color order across the road in anticipation of the first of the two steep hills. Jan Christen of UAE-XRG made the first attack with about 500M to climb. The bunch was strung out in one line and Uno-X Mobility slowly dragged him back. A number of counter attacks went but with 4KM to go, the race was back together and settling in for a sprint up the final ramp to the finish. Lotto showed themselves for the first time all day and led through 2KM to go. Christen attacked again, just outside 1KM when the road started to go up but it was a bit too early. Per Strand Hagenes of Visma-Lease a Bike did a strong pull before dropping away. Victor Langellotti of Ineos sprang from the bunch when it slowed after Strand Hagenes pulled off and he was followed by the rest of the bunch. Langellotti accelerated again and dropped the rest of the peloton with the exception of Matthew Brennan of Visma-Lease a Bike who was 10M behind the Monegasque's wheel. Christen was caught and passed with 300M to go by Langellotti but he would not have it his own way because Brennan and Maxim Van Gils of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe were charging behind. Brennan and Van Gils went passed Langellotti with 100M to go and it was Brennan that got the win by a bike length from Van Gils with Langellotti holding on for third place. Brennan took over the race lead and, with the time bonuses factored in from the last two days, he now holds 12 seconds over Langellotti and 15 seconds on Tibor Del Grosso of Alpecin-Deceuninck who finished seventh today at 3 seconds.