Fabio Jakobsen upsets hometown hero Edvald Boasson Hagen in Tour des Fjords opener

The Quick-Step Floors sprinter out-muscled the field in a hectic bunch kick, including Moreno Hofland (Lotto Soudal) and Timo Roosen (LottoNL-Jumbo) to make it an all-Dutch podium and give Jakobsen a four-second lead on general classification.

“We controlled with the team — Tim Declercq and Davide Martinelli — from the beginning and they set a good pace,” Jakobsen told Eurosport. “Then on the local circuits the speed went up even more.”

This year’s Tour des Fjords has been shortened to three stages from it’s traditional five in order to accommodate Velon’s Hammer Series in Stavanger over the upcoming weekend. With two fewer stages, Jakobsen is aware there are no ‘easy’ days ahead.

“It will be a hard next two days, but I really enjoy riding in Norway,” admitted 21-year-old Jakobsen of Norwegian descent, who also claimed the points and youth classification jerseys on the day. “We just want to see if we go to a bunch sprint again. I know I have good legs and today I showed I can win a sprint.

“Maybe tomorrow again, but first I have a good night of sleep and tomorrow [we] fight again for the victory.”

For 31-year-old Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data), who finished the day in fifth position behind fellow Norwegian Amund Grøndahl Jansen (LottoNL-Jumbo) just two days after recording a third-place result in both GC and points at Tour of Norway, it was a bittersweet return to his hometown.

“It didn’t work out as I hoped today,” Boasson Hagen told Eurosport. “We will try again tomorrow and the next day. I think the team is also a bit tired from Norway and myself as well, but we will do well.”

Both Quick-Step and Dimension Data rode hard on the front of the field to reel back a five-man break containing Jenrik Evensen (Joker Icopal), Frantisek Sisr (CCC-Sprandi Polkowice), Daniel Pearson (Aqua Blue Sport), Floris Gerts (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij) and Carlos Verona (Mitchelton-Scott).

After the race, Verona admitted both he and his Mitchelton-Scott team are riding with extra motivation due to British teammate Simon Yates currently in pink at the Giro d’Italia with five stages to remaining in Italy.

“It was a really hard day,” Verona told Eurosport. “The bunch did not give us much time, about two minutes, so this made it even harder because we could never relax. At the end — last 50k — we give a try and all five give our maximum, but it was not enough. The bunch caught us with like 8k to go.

“The emotion in the team is incredible,” the 25-year-old Spaniard continued. “We are so happy for Simon and the team in the Giro, and in the end this inspires us to keep doing well for the team.

“We hope Simon can keep the maglia rosa until the end of the giro. I think today was a time trial, if I am not wrong, and he did a good time trial so only five days to go until Rome.”

For full stage and race results, click here.