Arctic Race of Norway 2018 – Stage 4 [FULL STAGE]

August 19, 2018

Arctic Race of Norway 2018 – Stage 4 – Kvalsund – Alta : 145 km

The 2018 Arctic Race of Norway is a four-stage cycling stage race taking place in Norway between 16 and 19 August. It is the sixth edition of the Arctic Race of Norway and is rated as a 2.HC event as part of the UCI Europe Tour.

Russia’s Sergeï Chernetskiy of Astana became the sixth overall winner of the Arctic Race of Norway after Thor Hushovd (2013), Steven Kruijswijk (2014), Rein Taaramäe (2015), Gianni Moscon (2016) and Dylan Teuns (2017). Mathieu van der Poel took a second stage victory on his last road race of the year before he resumes racing cyclo-cross in one month.

“I’m very happy with this victory,” Chernetskiy commented after getting the trophy representing the emblem of the North Cape on stage in Alta. “I must thank everyone from my team for having helped me save the leader’s jersey. Our tactic today consisted in controlling the race from the start, especially the riders who were in second and third position behind me [Markus Hoelgaard from Joker-Icopal and Colin Joyce of Rally Cycling].

“We had to make sure that they wouldn’t take any bonifications. This is a very big victory for me. I hadn’t won anything for a long time and this is my first win for Astana [since he joined from Katusha in 2017]. This is the team I wanted to ride for and I’m happy to ride for a big team and repay them for their confidence.”

There was no threat really for the race leader in the 12-man group that rode away quickly after the flag off, comprising Guy Niv (Israel Cycling Academy), Tiago Machado (Katusha-Alpecin), Sébastien Delfosse and Julien Mortier (WV Aqua Protect-Veranclassic), Kristoffer Skjerping (Joker-Icopal), Mekseb Debesay and Connor Swift (Dimension Data), Cyrille Lemoine (Cofidis), Preben van Hecke (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Wesley Kreder (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Nikolay Mihaylov (Delko Marseille Provence-KTM) and Miguel Bryon (Holowesko-Citadel).

After 10km of racing, their advantage was already 45 seconds’. The highest ranked on GC being Van Hecke, 24th at 2:09′, Astana maintained the time difference just above three minutes.

On the final laps in Alta, Direct Energie took over from the Kazakh team at the helm of the peloton. Machado tried to avoid the return of the main pack by breaking away from the leading group with 13km to go but he was reined in two kilometres further. The Corendon-Circus team of stage 1 and stage 3 winners Mathieu Van der Poel and Adam Toupalik showed their motivation for getting one more victory. Debesay was swallowed by the bunch 9km before the end. The peloton was very active in the Thomasbakken climb 5km before the finish. It was all back together with 2km to go, except for Swift and Skjerping who forged on until the last kilometre.

Van der Poel was perfectly positioned. Nicolas Roche launched the sprint but the Dutch champion passed him with 200 metres to go to cross the line with a significant advantage over Sondre Holst Enger (Israel Cycling Academy) and Quentin Pacher (Vital Concept).

“I expected Van der Poel to pass me to be honest,” Roche told Cyclingnews. “I was hoping for a top 3 but other guys came fast from behind.

“It was a hard sprint,” Van der Poel confirmed. “It was very fast on the local course. The front group still had quite an advantage, so the peloton did a great job to catch them. It’s been amazing to ride the Arctic Race of Norway with the whole team like this. It’s nice to finish the road season with a win. I’m very happy about it and I’d love to come back to this race in the future.”

Van der Poel’s teammate Adam Toupalik is the revelation of the sixth Arctic Race of Norway, having won stage 3 in style as he fended off the whole chasing peloton. It’s a breakthrough in Markus Hoelgaard’s career as well. The brother of Daniel Hoelgaard who rides in the WorldTour for Groupama-FDJ came second overall and seems ready to step up at the age of 23.

“It’s my biggest result so far in my career,” the runner up told Cyclingnews.

“It means a lot to me with such a big help from my team Joker-Icopal. We had a good week. Today we thought the breakaway would stick to the finish. With Kristoffer Skjerping who is fast and strong at the front, we had some big hope for him to win if the break stayed away, and then I was hoping to do something from the peloton but the course wasn’t as hard as we thought. It was so fast with riders going for a sprint finish that I had no chance to try and win the Arctic Race of Norway but to defend the second place is a satisfaction.”

Results :
1 Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Corendon-Circus 3:21:02
2 Sondre Enger (Nor) Israel Cycling Academy
3 Quentin Pacher (Fra) Vital Concept Club
4 Loic Chetout (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
5 Benjamin Declercq (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
6 Laurent Pichon (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
7 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
8 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team
9 Nicolai Brøchner (Den) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources
10 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team
11 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
12 Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:04
13 Iuri Filosi (Ita) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
14 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling
15 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Katusha-Alpecin
16 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
17 Justin Jules (Fra) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
18 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team
19 Trond Håkon Trondsen (Nor) Team Coop
20 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
21 Markus Hoelgaard (Nor) Joker Icopal
22 Erik Nordsaeter Resell (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team
23 Christophe Noppe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
24 Martin Urianstad (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team
25 Krister Hagen (Nor) Team Coop
26 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Joker Icopal
27 Jimmy Turgis (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
28 Kevin Deltombe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
29 Øyvind Lukkedal (Nor) Team Coop
30 John Murphy (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources
31 Brendan Rhim (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources
32 Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data
33 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
34 Angelo Tulik (Fra) Direct Energie
35 Willie Smit (RSA) Katusha-Alpecin
36 Kenneth Van Rooy (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
37 Dennis van Winden (Ned) Israel Cycling Academy
38 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team
39 Bjørn Tore Hoem (Nor) Joker Icopal
40 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally Cycling
41 Kent Main (RSA) Dimension Data 0:00:13
42 Romain Hardy (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
43 Clement Russo (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic
44 Tom Wirtgen (Lux) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic 0:00:18
45 Alexis Guerin (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:00:19
46 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:21
47 Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
48 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
49 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data
50 Kenny Molly (Bel) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
51 Ryan Anderson (Can) Rally Cycling
52 Alexander Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team
53 Jonas Iversby Hvideberg (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team 0:00:29
54 Julien Mortier (Bel) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic 0:00:31
55 Gianni Vermeersch (Bel) Corendon-Circus 0:00:33
56 Kristian Aasvold (Nor) Team Coop
57 Torstein Træen (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team
58 Sindre Skjøstad Lunke (Nor) Fortuneo-Samsic
59 Louis Bendixen (Den) Team Coop 0:00:36
60 Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie 0:00:38
61 Anders Skaarseth (Nor) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
62 Sébastien Delfosse (Bel) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic 0:00:45
63 Daniel Turek (Cze) Israel Cycling Academy 0:00:49
64 Adam Toupalik (Cze) Corendon-Circus
65 Miguel Bryon (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources
66 Fabian Lienhard (Swi) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources
67 Kristoffer Skjerping (Nor) Joker Icopal 0:00:57
68 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team
69 Yannick Martinez (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
70 Yoann Bagot (Fra) Vital Concept Club
71 Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz (Pol) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:01:24
72 Nikolay Mihaylov (Bul) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
73 Tiago Machado (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
74 Connor Swift (GBr) Dimension Data
75 Wesley Kreder (Ned) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
76 Guy Niv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy 0:01:56
77 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:02:11
78 Andzs Flaksis (Lat) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:02:36
79 Marcel Meisen (Ger) Corendon-Circus 0:03:04
80 David van der Poel (Ned) Corendon-Circus
81 Jesper Hansen (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:03:10
82 Herman Dahl (Nor) Joker Icopal
83 Erwann Corbel (Fra) Vital Concept Club 0:03:50
84 Bert De Backer (Bel) Vital Concept Club
85 Matteo Dal-Cin (Can) Rally Cycling
86 Robin Carpenter (USA) Rally Cycling
87 Emiel Planckaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
88 Eliot Lietaer (Bel) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
89 Mekseb Debesay (Eri) Dimension Data
90 Mark McNally (GBr) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
91 Sindre Kulset (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team
92 Justin Mottier (Fra) Vital Concept Club
93 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Direct Energie
94 Gatis Smukulis (Lat) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:03:53
95 Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel Cycling Academy
96 August Jensen (Nor) Israel Cycling Academy 0:05:17
97 Tom Meeusen (Bel) Corendon-Circus 0:06:28
98 Hugo Houle (Can) Astana Pro Team
99 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:06:58
100 Johan Le Bon (Fra) Vital Concept Club 0:07:18
101 Henrik Evensen (Nor) Joker Icopal 0:07:25
102 Eric Young (USA) Rally Cycling 0:09:26
103 Kristian Kulset (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team 0:11:51
104 Romain Cardis (Fra) Direct Energie 0:12:06
105 Axel Journiaux (Fra) Direct Energie
106 Simon Sellier (Fra) Direct Energie

Final General Classification :
1 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team 15:55:42
2 Markus Hoelgaard (Nor) Joker Icopal 0:00:11
3 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling 0:00:12
4 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:00:27
5 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team 0:00:37
6 Laurent Pichon (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic 0:00:38
7 Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:42
8 Carl Fredrik Hagen (Nor) Joker Icopal
9 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:56
10 Dennis van Winden (Ned) Israel Cycling Academy
11 Michael Schär (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:00:57
12 Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Corendon-Circus 0:00:59
13 Benjamin Declercq (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:01:22
14 Quentin Pacher (Fra) Vital Concept Club
15 Krister Hagen (Nor) Team Coop 0:01:45
16 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Wanty-Groupe Gobert 0:01:46
17 Iuri Filosi (Ita) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:01:53
18 Angelo Tulik (Fra) Direct Energie 0:01:59
19 Jimmy Turgis (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:02:01
20 Romain Hardy (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic 0:02:04
21 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:02:07
22 Erik Nordsaeter Resell (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team 0:02:11
23 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:02:22
24 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team 0:02:33
25 Nicolai Brøchner (Den) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:02:43
26 Bjørn Tore Hoem (Nor) Joker Icopal 0:03:06
27 Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie 0:03:29
28 Clement Russo (Fra) Fortuneo-Samsic 0:03:45
29 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Katusha-Alpecin 0:03:58
30 Kevin Deltombe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:04:50
31 Adam Toupalik (Cze) Corendon-Circus 0:04:57
32 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:06:01
33 Fabian Lienhard (Swi) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:06:25
34 Ryan Anderson (Can) Rally Cycling 0:06:52
35 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:06:59
36 Connor Swift (GBr) Dimension Data 0:07:06
37 Tiago Machado (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:07:12
38 Jesper Hansen (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:07:44
39 Kent Main (RSA) Dimension Data 0:08:52
40 Alberto Bettiol (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:09:04
41 Sindre Skjøstad Lunke (Nor) Fortuneo-Samsic
42 Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert 0:09:33
43 Daniel Turek (Cze) Israel Cycling Academy 0:09:40
44 Jacques Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data 0:10:18
45 Robin Carpenter (USA) Rally Cycling 0:10:59
46 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally Cycling 0:11:03
47 August Jensen (Nor) Israel Cycling Academy 0:15:06
48 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin 0:15:30
49 Romain Cardis (Fra) Direct Energie 0:15:38
50 Willie Smit (RSA) Katusha-Alpecin 0:15:59
51 Louis Bendixen (Den) Team Coop 0:16:11
52 Johan Le Bon (Fra) Vital Concept Club 0:16:39
53 Trond Håkon Trondsen (Nor) Team Coop 0:16:41
54 Mekseb Debesay (Eri) Dimension Data 0:16:45
55 Anders Skaarseth (Nor) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:17:03
56 Kenny Molly (Bel) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic 0:17:09
57 Christophe Noppe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:17:15
58 Torstein Træen (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team 0:17:21
59 Kristoffer Skjerping (Nor) Joker Icopal 0:17:23
60 Jonas Iversby Hvideberg (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team 0:18:06
61 Martin Urianstad (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team 0:18:51
62 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Wanty-Groupe Gobert 0:18:56
63 Sébastien Delfosse (Bel) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic 0:19:39
64 Kenneth Van Rooy (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:19:59
65 Erwann Corbel (Fra) Vital Concept Club 0:20:20
66 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data 0:20:31
67 Yannick Martinez (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:20:51
68 Kristian Aasvold (Nor) Team Coop 0:20:59
69 Yoann Bagot (Fra) Vital Concept Club 0:21:23
70 Loic Chetout (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:21:46
71 Hugo Houle (Can) Astana Pro Team 0:21:48
72 Andzs Flaksis (Lat) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:21:57
73 Marcel Meisen (Ger) Corendon-Circus 0:22:23
74 Gianni Vermeersch (Bel) Corendon-Circus 0:23:26
75 Øyvind Lukkedal (Nor) Team Coop 0:24:05
76 Tom Wirtgen (Lux) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic 0:24:47
77 Justin Jules (Fra) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic 0:26:00
78 Eliot Lietaer (Bel) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic 0:26:31
79 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Direct Energie 0:26:44
80 John Murphy (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:28:00
81 Alexander Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:28:24
82 Brendan Rhim (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:28:43
83 David van der Poel (Ned) Corendon-Circus 0:28:48
84 Matteo Dal-Cin (Can) Rally Cycling 0:29:05
85 Bert De Backer (Bel) Vital Concept Club 0:29:21
86 Wesley Kreder (Ned) Wanty-Groupe Gobert 0:30:47
87 Justin Mottier (Fra) Vital Concept Club 0:30:53
88 Miguel Bryon (USA) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources 0:31:16
89 Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz (Pol) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:31:51
90 Sondre Enger (Nor) Israel Cycling Academy 0:31:53
91 Tom Meeusen (Bel) Corendon-Circus 0:32:12
92 Julien Mortier (Bel) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic 0:33:10
93 Herman Dahl (Nor) Joker Icopal 0:33:37
94 Henrik Evensen (Nor) Joker Icopal 0:33:55
95 Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel Cycling Academy 0:34:18
96 Gatis Smukulis (Lat) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:34:20
97 Simon Sellier (Fra) Direct Energie 0:34:47
98 Alexis Guerin (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:35:38
99 Nikolay Mihaylov (Bul) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:37:05
100 Kristian Kulset (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team 0:39:40
101 Mark McNally (GBr) Wanty-Groupe Gobert 0:39:54
102 Guy Niv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy 0:42:41
103 Axel Journiaux (Fra) Direct Energie 0:44:21
104 Eric Young (USA) Rally Cycling 0:46:48
105 Emiel Planckaert (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:47:19
106 Sindre Kulset (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team 0:55:18