Ethan Hayter doubles up with second stage win in a row at Tour of Norway

Ethan Hayter won his second stage in a row at the 2021 Tour of Norway, extending his lead in the general classification.

Arriving in Scandinavia two weeks after taking Olympic silver in Tokyo, the 22-year-old won his second sprint in as many days.

Hayter beat Lotto-Soudal's Tosh van der Sande into second in the uphill kick to the line, Jumbo-Visma's Mike Teunissen settling for third while Bora-Hansgrohe's Ide Schelling was fourth, the Dutchman now trailing the Brit by 15 seconds in the overall classification.

Another Brit, Ribble-Weldtite's James Shaw, managed seventh, moving himself up to fourth overall, 33 seconds down, with two stages remaining.

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In the final kilometre of stage two, UAE Team Emirates' Sven Erik Bystrøm attacked, looking to take the win, stringing the race out as Hayter stuck to Schelling's wheel, slowly moving himself up before making a dash for it to pip Van der Sande on the line

After beating Schelling on stage one, where Hayter following his rival's attack just before the flamme rouge, Hayter said he was surprised at the result despite knowing he'd carried his form on from the Olympic Games.

"I knew that I'd just got a Silver medal in the Olympics so I'm going quite well, but it's a surprise," Hayter said. "I had a few days off and a couple of good days training in rainy Manchester and that seems to have set me up well for today."

Hayter has now taken six wins this season, the only other of his professional career coming in his debut 2020 season at the Giro dell'Appennino.

This year, he opened his account in March, taking a stage of Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, before also winning a stage of the Volta ao Algarve em Bicicleta in Portugal followed by two at the Vuelta a Andalucia.

2021 is looking like a break-out year for Hayter, who also claimed an impressive silver in the men's Madison in Tokyo alongside Matt Walls.