the belgian Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep) continued his dominance at the Tour of Norway with a sprint hat-trick as the winner of the fifth stage disputed between Flekkefjord and Sandnes, of 181.7 km, which allowed him to reinforce the yellow jersey of leader with one day to go.
Evenepoel (Aalst, 22 years old), recent winner of the Liège-Bastogne, dominated the last kilometers of the stage at will, in which a small group separated from the large group to catch up with Irishman Ben Healy (Education EF), who marched escaped with the goal reached. The leader pulled gallons and entered the finish line in a position to contest the sprint, where he had no rival. He accelerated when he considered it opportune, he distanced himself a few meters and signed his third victory in the Tour of Norway.
Evenepoel set a time of 4h:53.33, at an average of 37.1 km/h on a route with multiple slopes similar to that of the Ardennes classics. The second place went to the 22-year-old Norwegian Tobias Johannessen (Uno X) and the third for the Australian Luke Plapp (Ineos), 21. The game was among young people.
Evenepoel will go out to defend the leadership in the last stage with a comfortable difference of 56 seconds over Vine Jay (Alpecin Fenix) and 1:30 minutes compared to Luke Plapp (Ineos), a couple of Australians on their way to the final podium. This Sunday the sixth and last stage will be held with start and finish in Stavanger, with a route of 149.3 kilometers.
