Sep Vanmarcke of Belkin escaped to win the third stage of the Tour Of Norway.
Marc De Maar was the new leader going into this third 177.7km stage from Årnes to Budor.
After 27km, Tom Van Asbroeck, Jensen, Karlsson & Groendahl were the leaders with a gap of 1.40 which went out to 2.50 after fifty kilometres.
With thirty kilometres to go, only Karlsson & Groendahl were left out front with a gap of 1.08 to peloton.
Karlsson went for a solo raid but behind him, there was attacks from the peloton with Clement, Vanmarcke and Marycz coming to join Groendahl and Karlsson, followed by Smukulis.
Tinkoff Saxo and UnitedHealthcare tried to bring the escapers who had dropped Karlsson for the final sixteen kilometres.
This saw the gap drop from fifty seconds to twenty six and meant that more in the peloton were now fancying their chances including Samoilau and Larsson who joined the escapers whilst Willmann followed in hot pursuit.
Inside the final kilometre and only Stef Clement, Vanmarcke, Smukulis & Larsson.and Sep Van Marcke of Belkin rode away to win in 4.13.15, one second ahead of Larsson, four seconds ahead of Smukulis and six ahead of Clement. Wanty Group's Jerome Baugnies came in twelve seconds back followed another second later by Jaroslaw Marycz, Aleksejs Saramotins, Alexander Kristoff and Bauke Mollema.
Marc De Maar of Unitedhealthcare continues to lead the race by three seconds from Maciej Paterski and six seconds from IAM Cycling's Gustav Larsson.
A delighted Vanmarcke tweeted: "Really happy to win todays stage in Tour of Norway, specially when finishing up on a climb! Thanks to team! Special thanks to Stef Clement."