Wærenskjold takes second in Tour de France stage, calls it 'doing a lot right'

Norwegian cyclist Søren Wærenskjold secured a career-best second place in the Tour de France on Friday, finishing just behind stage winner Tim Merlier in a dramatic sprint to Bordeaux.

The 26-year-old from Mandal delivered a powerful performance on the 175-kilometer flat stage. Wærenskjold's sprint was lauded by commentators, with TV 2's Christian Paasche calling it "a brilliant sprint." This result surpasses his previous best of third place on the opening stage last year.

Reflecting on his performance, Wærenskjold stated, "I actually felt I did damn well. I started a bit before the others and blocked them a bit, even though I didn't have the best legs, I felt I did a lot of things right." He had been disappointed with his tenth-place finish on the race's first sprint stage earlier in the week.

The strong showing by Wærenskjold provided a much-needed boost for the Uno-X team. They had recently lost the yellow jersey, and rider Torstein Træen was forced to abandon the race after a crash on Thursday's stage. Træen fell heavily during a descent with 25 kilometers remaining but managed to remount and finish the stage before withdrawing.

Friday's stage saw a breakaway by Baptiste Veistroffer of France and Jakub Otruba of the Czech Republic, but they were caught with less than 18 kilometers to go, setting the stage for the final sprint where Wærenskjold claimed his impressive second position.

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I actually felt I did damn well. I started a bit before the others and blocked them a bit, even though I didn't have the best legs, I felt I did a lot of things right.