25/05/2024

Jordi Meeus takes first win since Champs Elysees on stage 3 of Tour of Norway; Wout van Aert 4th on sprint return

Jordi Meeus has taken his first win since the biggest victory of his career on the Champs Elysees at the 2023 Tour de France ahead of Pavel Bittner and Alexander Kristoff with Wout van Aert 4th on his first sprint since returning from injury.

Although four riders got themselves into the breakaway on the day, the peloton was keeping the quartet on a relatively tight leash for much of the stage at around two minutes, not giving the leaders much hope of taking a stage win. Heading into the final 30km, the leaders, having dropped down to just three, had only 1:00 advantage.

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After a brave effort from the breakaway, with just under 3km to go, they were finally swallowed up by a rampant peloton. With a flat finish to the day, the attention of the bunch then turned to the preparations for the bunch sprint finale.

With a number of renowned fast men in the peloton at the 2024 Tour of Norway, the fight for position at the front of the peloton under the Flamme Rouge was an intense one. In the end, it was Uno-X Mobility who led into the final kilometre.

When Alexander Kristoff launched, Wout van Aert was on his wheel but in a thrilling finale it was BORA - hansgrohe's Jordi Meeus who powered to the line from the other side of the road, taking his first victory since his win on the Champs Elysees.