Katusha's Alexander Kristoff followed up his win in the Tour of Norway on Wednesday when he won the second stage today in Skien.
Seven riders in Sander Cordeel (Lotto-Belisol), who passed in first position over the two climbs of the day and became the King of the Mountains, Thomas Degand (Accent Jobs-Wanty), Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural), Laurens de Vreese and Stijn Neirynck (Topsport-Vlaanderen), Michael Reihs (Cult) and Fillip Eidsheim (Oster Hus) escaped on a stage from Kongsberg to Skien which had the one of final two laps round Skien postponed due to the appalling weather which also affected the television transmission.
They never got more than three minutes away and were pulled back by the peloton to set up a bunch sprint which Norwegian Alexander Kristoff won in a time of 4.11.12 ahead of Team Sky's Edvald Boasson-Hagen and another home rider Sondre H Enger of the Plussbank team.
Team Sky's Brit Ben Swift was eleventh with Luke Rowe 92nd.
Alexander Kristoff leads the race by eight seconds from Edvald Boasson Hagen.