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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Another disappointing day for Norway in Tour de France

Norway’s only two cyclists in this year’s Tour de France had another disappointing day on the road on Tuesday, with Alexander Kristoff finishing 157th and Edvald Boasson Hagen ending in 105th place. Now race experts don’t think either has much of a chance of winning any laps this year.

Hagen finished 16 minutes and 40 secones behind the winner, Chris Froome of Kenya, with Kristoff 22 minutes and 31 seconds behind. The race was due to be even tougher on Wednesday, when the cyclists have to ride over Col du Tourmalet at an elevation of 2,115 meters and tackle three summits along the way. Both of the Norwegians do best on the flatter portions of the race where sprinters flourish.

Neither of them has been doing that this year and race commentators now say they have little hope of lap victories this year. “I really thought Alex (Kristoff) would have had at least one lap victory, since he’s a star in the sport of cycling,” said Gabriel Rasch, sports director for Sky and commentator for NRK Radio this week. Hopes were high during the first days of the race earlier this month that Kristoff and Hagen would be competing for the leaders’ jerseys, but they haven’t come close.

With nine laps over, a fourth- and fifth place are the best the two Norwegians have done. The Tour de France runs through July 26.

newsinenglish.no staff

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