Edvald Boasson Hagen placed third on stage one at the Tour of Norway after opening up his sprint early.

The Norwegian looked set to delight his home fans as he hit the front in the closing metres but was overhauled at the line with Jonas Ahlstrand (Team CykelCity) taking a surprise win.

The young Swede claimed an impressive victory, holding off Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) at the finish in Tonsberg to pull on the first yellow leader’s jersey of the race.

Wednesday’s stage marked a new era for the race also known as the Glava Tour which moved up to UCI 2.1 status and saw numerous pro teams descend on Norway.

Most prominent during the day were Team Sky who controlled the pace on the front of the bunch alongside Lampre-ISD in a stage which always look like culminating in a bunch kick.

Opening test

Headed out from Sandefjord with 185.7km test it was no surprise to see an eager breakaway head up the road.

Arnaud Van Groen (Accent.Jobs), Michael Morkov (Saxo Bank), Fernando Cardoso (CJR), Yoann Cauquil (La Pomme) and sole Norwegian representative Reidar Borgersen (Joker Merida) combined to pull a gap of 4:50.

Team Sky seized the initiative to control a bunch which at one point was doused by heavy rain showers.

The race saw to significant returnees for Team Sky, with Canadian Michael Barry making a welcome appearance on the team sheet after breaking his elbow at the Tour of Qatar in February. Ben Swift also make a quicker-than-expected recovery after a pre-Giro training crash.

Finishing into Tonsberg - the home town of Lars-Petter Nordhaug - the gap was shut down to a minute as both Garmin-Barracuda and Orica-GreenEDGE moved to the head of affairs, the escapees eventually caught with 10km remaining.

Solid start

After the stage Sports Director Marcus Ljungqvist talked us through the day which went largely to plan until the finale.

He said: "The plan was to make sure we were happy with the break and make sure there was no danger for the GC. We knew eventually we would have to ride but it worked out perfectly with five guys.

"We didn’t let them get much time and Lampre came up with two guys to help. The team did a great job all day taking some turns. In the end we were setting it up for Edvald. It went to plan until 300m to go until Edvald hit the front just a little bit early.

"That’s what he felt and he admitted it after the race. On another day it could have worked but he took third which also has some bonus seconds which was one of the objectives today.

"It would have been nice to finish it off with a win but it’s great to see the guys riding so well together. Guys like Michael Barry who is coming back from a crash back in Qatar."