Arctic Race of Norway 2019 – Stage 1 [FULL STAGE]

August 15, 2019

Arctic Race of Norway 2019 – Stage 1 – Å – Leknes : 181 km

In a busy week of racing, from America to Belgium and Spain, the Arctic Race of Norway takes us above the Arctic Circle for the northern-most race in professional cycling. It is surely among the most picturesque, too, and this year the headline act is the all-new summit finish on Storheia, which is being dubbed ‘the Norwegian Mont Ventoux’. At 3.5km in length, and 504m above sea level, it’s some way short of ‘The Giant of Provence’, but shares an exposed mountainside with panoramic views and a susceptibility to strong winds, not to mention a weather station tower at the top. With gradients that average 11.8 per cent, it will be decisive in terms of the race as a whole, appearing on the third of the four stages. In keeping with the traditional format, there is one other ‘hilly’ stage – replicating the 2017 stage in Narvik won by Dylan Teuns – along with two flatter days for the sprinters at the start of the race. In terms of location, the race returns to its roots for its seventh edition, with a return to the Lofoten archipelago that was used for the inaugural edition back in 2013. “This seventh edition of the Arctic Race of Norway will again be spectacular and undecided just until the last day in Narvik,” says race ambassador Thor Hushovd.

Mathieu van der Poel (Corenden-Circus) picked up where he left off four months ago when he sprinted to victory on the opening stage of the Arctic Race of Norway. The Dutchman hadn’t raced on the road since winning Amstel Gold Race in April, but he hit his stride immediately, beating his fellow countryman Danny van Poppel (Jumbo-Visma) to the line in Leknes to take the stage honours and the overall lead.

Just days after victory at the mountain bike World Cup in Lenzerheide, this was the umpteenth demonstration of Van der Poel’s remarkable versatility. The 24-year-old toggles between road, mountain bike and cyclo-cross with remarkable ease, winning on all terrains. This was his sixth win on the road in 2019, and in just 16 days of racing. Despite his relative inexperience, Van der Poel is, with ample justification, among the very top tier of favourites for next month’s road Worlds in Yorkshire.

Van der Poel showed guile as well as strength in the finale to claim the honours here. He was part of the decisive 33-man move that forged clear with a little under 100km remaining after a blisteringly quick start to proceedings, and he maintained a watching brief when the escapees began to attack one another in the finale 30km or so.

Come the last 10km, however, Van der Poel weighed up the odds and realised that the four-man delegation from Jumbo-Visma was likely to try to keep the fragmenting group together for a sprint. He carefully marked Van Poppel in the finale, and Jumbo-Visma duly pegged back a late, solo effort from an impressive Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) within sight of the line.

“At the end I had to gamble that they were closing the gap. Astana had riders as well, but it was a difficult situation,” Van der Poel said afterwards. “With 7 or 8km to go, I had in mind that I was waiting for the sprint. I didn’t have many options, and from there, it was about timing my sprint perfectly.”

Van der Poel did that and more. Just as Cummings was brought back, he unsheathed a vicious acceleration that carried him a length clear of Van Poppel to take the stage win and the overall lead. Van Poppel took second ahead of Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), while Bart Declercq (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise) came home in fourth place.

In the overall standings, Van der Poel has a lead of two seconds over Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), whose day-long aggression was rewarded with bonus seconds at the intermediate sprints, while Van Poppel is third at four seconds. “It’s going to be very hard to defend the jersey, but we’ll see,” said Van der Poel.

How it unfolded

There was no gentle introduction to proceedings in Å, with attack after attack pinging off the front of the peloton in the opening kilometres. The soaring average speed through the first two hours of racing stretched the bunch to breaking point, and a group of 33 – including Van der Poel, Lutsensko, Cummings, Enrico Gasparotto (Dimension Data), Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) and Warren Barguil (Arkea-Samsic) – forged clear with 98km remaining.

Although unwieldy in size, the group’s collective strength was enough to carry it clear of the peloton and the move may yet prove pivotal in the battle for final overall victory. The escapees maintained their entente deep into the stage, but their alliance of circumstance finally began to fray in the final 30km or so, with Lutsensko especially active off the front.

The Kazakhstani was the lone leader when the race came through the finish area for the penultimate time with 25km remaining, and he was later joined by Cummings, Lilian Calmejane (Total-Direct Energie) and Pascal Eenkhoorn (Jumbo-Visma). Cummings led that quintet over the top of Hagskaret Summit, but Katusha-Alpecin’s pursuit pegged them back over the other side.

Gasparotto and Krists Neilands (Israel Cycling Academy) were the next men to go on the offensive before Hugo Houle (Astana) restored some order to the group on behalf of Lutsenko and Magnus Cort.

With 8.5km to go, Cummings instigated another move, bringing Cort, Barguil, Markus Hoelgaard (Uno-X Norwegian Development Team) and the Jumbo-Visma duo of Amund Grøndahl Jansen and Flors De Tier with him. The effort was doomed, however, by a combination of Cort’s orders to wait for Lutsenko and one long turn from Van der Poel behind.

Cummings cruised clear alone with 5km to go and the Briton briefly looked as though he might defy the Jumbo-Visma chase effort when he stretched his lead out to 11 seconds with 2km to go. He was still leading beneath the flamme rouge, but at day’s end, he would have to settle for the consolation of the king of the mountains jersey. Jumbo-Visma’s led the remnants of the break to his rear wheel, before Van der Poel scorched clear to take the win.

“It was a very hard race. The pace never dropped,” Van der Poel said. “After 3 hours, the average speed was still 50kph. It was really hard, full gas all day. I kind of like it like that.”

Results :
1 Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Corendon-Circus 3:45:14
2 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
3 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty-Gobert
4 Benjamin Declercq (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
5 Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel Cycling Academy
6 Jordi Warlop (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
7 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Dimension Data
8 Markus Hoelgaard (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team
9 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
10 Franck Bonnamour (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
11 Dimitri Peyskens (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
12 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
13 Quentin Pacher (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
14 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Total Direct Energie
15 Lucas Eriksson (Swe) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
16 Aritz Bagues Kalparsoro (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
17 Kim Magnusson (Swe) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
18 Warren Barguil (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
19 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
20 Brandon McNulty (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
21 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
22 Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Astana Pro Team
23 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Total Direct Energie
24 Sindre Skjøstad Lunke (Nor) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
25 Amund Grøndahl Jansen (Nor) Team Jumbo-Visma
26 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma
27 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data
28 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
29 Hugo Houle (Can) Astana Pro Team 0:00:06
30 Pascal Eenkhoorn (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:32
31 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:03:02
32 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:05:23
33 Loic Chetout (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
34 Mads Schmidt Würtz (Den) Katusha-Alpecin 0:16:44
35 Jonas Gregaard Wilsly (Den) Astana Pro Team
36 Mathias Van Gompel (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
37 Kristian Kulset (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team
38 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data
39 Danilo Wyss (Swi) Dimension Data
40 Jonas Iversby Hvideberg (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team
41 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
42 Christophe Noppe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
43 Thimo Willems (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
44 Rasmus Bøgh Wallin (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
45 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Corendon-Circus
46 Erik Nordsaeter Resell (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team
47 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally UHC Cycling
48 Julien Mortier (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
49 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
50 Henrik Evensen (Nor) Joker Fuel of Norway
51 Tobias Mørch Kongstad (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
52 Yuriy Natarov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
53 Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Corendon-Circus
54 Kristoffer Skjerping (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team
55 Enzo Bernard (Fra) Total Direct Energie
56 August Jensen (Nor) Israel Cycling Academy
57 Bryan Nauleau (Fra) Total Direct Energie
58 Juri Hollmann (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
59 Kevin Ledanois (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
60 Patrick Müller (Swi) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
61 Kevin Reza (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
62 Jérémy Lecroq (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
63 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
64 Trond Håkon Trondsen (Nor) Team Coop
65 Tom Wirtgen (Lux) Wallonie Bruxelles
66 Brenton Jones (Aus) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
67 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data
68 Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
69 Bjørn Tore Hoem (Nor) Joker Fuel of Norway
70 Emils Liepins (Lat) Wallonie Bruxelles
71 Simon Carr (GBr) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
72 Kristian Aasvold (Nor) Team Coop
73 Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
74 Connor Swift (GBr) Arkéa Samsic
75 Fabien Grellier (Fra) Total Direct Energie
76 Emmanuel Morin (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
77 Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz (Pol) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
78 Krister Hagen (Nor) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
79 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
80 Pit Leyder (Lux) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
81 Kenny Molly (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
82 Olav Hjemsæter (Nor) Team Coop
83 Jose Daniel Viejo Redondo (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
84 Romain Combaud (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
85 Johan Le Bon (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
86 Alessandro Fedeli (Ita) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
87 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data
88 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Israel Cycling Academy
89 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
90 Julen Irizar Laskurain (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
91 Ander Barrenetxea Uriarte (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
92 Thomas Leezer (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
93 Alan Riou (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
94 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy
95 Øivind Lukkedal (Nor) Joker Fuel of Norway
96 Yoann Offredo (Fra) Wanty-Gobert
97 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
98 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Wanty-Gobert
99 Frederik Backaert (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
100 Lars Saugstad (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team
101 Louis Bendixen (Den) Team Coop
102 Håkon Lunder Aalrust (Nor) Team Coop
103 Loïc Vliegen (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
104 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
105 Otto Vergaerde (Bel) Corendon-Circus
106 Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
107 Kevyn Ista (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
108 Sondre Enger (Nor) Israel Cycling Academy
109 Andreas Vangstad (Nor) Joker Fuel of Norway
110 Herman Dahl (Nor) Joker Fuel of Norway
111 Jimmy Janssens (Bel) Corendon-Circus
112 Ryan Anderson (Can) Rally UHC Cycling
113 Svein Tuft (Can) Rally UHC Cycling
114 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
115 Erlend Jordbrekk Blikra (Nor) Team Coop
116 Dries De Bondt (Bel) Corendon-Circus
117 Aksel Fischer Aasheim (Nor) Joker Fuel of Norway 0:24:06
DNF Robin Carpenter (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
DNF Beñat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias

General Classification after Stage 1 :
1 Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Corendon-Circus 3:45:04
2 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:00:03
3 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:04
4 Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Wanty-Gobert 0:00:05
5 Markus Hoelgaard (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team 0:00:06
6 Amund Grøndahl Jansen (Nor) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:07
7 Magnus Cort Nielsen (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:00:08
8 Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel Cycling Academy 0:00:09
9 Benjamin Declercq (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:00:10
10 Jordi Warlop (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
11 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Dimension Data
12 Franck Bonnamour (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
13 Dimitri Peyskens (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
14 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
15 Quentin Pacher (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
16 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Total Direct Energie
17 Lucas Eriksson (Swe) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
18 Aritz Bagues Kalparsoro (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
19 Kim Magnusson (Swe) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
20 Warren Barguil (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
21 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
22 Brandon McNulty (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
23 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
24 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Total Direct Energie
25 Sindre Skjøstad Lunke (Nor) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
26 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team Jumbo-Visma
27 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data
28 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
29 Hugo Houle (Can) Astana Pro Team 0:00:16
30 Pascal Eenkhoorn (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:00:42
31 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Total Direct Energie 0:03:12
32 Pavel Kochetkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:05:33
33 Loic Chetout (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
34 Mads Schmidt Würtz (Den) Katusha-Alpecin 0:16:54
35 Jonas Gregaard Wilsly (Den) Astana Pro Team
36 Mathias Van Gompel (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
37 Kristian Kulset (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team
38 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data
39 Danilo Wyss (Swi) Dimension Data
40 Jonas Iversby Hvideberg (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team
41 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
42 Christophe Noppe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
43 Thimo Willems (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
44 Rasmus Bøgh Wallin (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
45 Stijn Devolder (Bel) Corendon-Circus
46 Erik Nordsaeter Resell (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team
47 Adam De Vos (Can) Rally UHC Cycling
48 Julien Mortier (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
49 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
50 Henrik Evensen (Nor) Joker Fuel of Norway
51 Tobias Mørch Kongstad (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
52 Yuriy Natarov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
53 Lasse Norman Hansen (Den) Corendon-Circus
54 Kristoffer Skjerping (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team
55 Enzo Bernard (Fra) Total Direct Energie
56 August Jensen (Nor) Israel Cycling Academy
57 Bryan Nauleau (Fra) Total Direct Energie
58 Juri Hollmann (Ger) Katusha-Alpecin
59 Kevin Ledanois (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
60 Patrick Müller (Swi) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
61 Kevin Reza (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
62 Jérémy Lecroq (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
63 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
64 Trond Håkon Trondsen (Nor) Team Coop
65 Tom Wirtgen (Lux) Wallonie Bruxelles
66 Brenton Jones (Aus) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
67 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Dimension Data
68 Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
69 Bjørn Tore Hoem (Nor) Joker Fuel of Norway
70 Emils Liepins (Lat) Wallonie Bruxelles
71 Simon Carr (GBr) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
72 Kristian Aasvold (Nor) Team Coop
73 Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
74 Connor Swift (GBr) Arkéa Samsic
75 Fabien Grellier (Fra) Total Direct Energie
76 Emmanuel Morin (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
77 Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz (Pol) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
78 Krister Hagen (Nor) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
79 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
80 Pit Leyder (Lux) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
81 Kenny Molly (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
82 Olav Hjemsæter (Nor) Team Coop
83 Jose Daniel Viejo Redondo (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
84 Romain Combaud (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
85 Johan Le Bon (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
86 Alessandro Fedeli (Ita) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
87 Jay Thomson (RSA) Dimension Data
88 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Israel Cycling Academy
89 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
90 Julen Irizar Laskurain (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
91 Ander Barrenetxea Uriarte (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
92 Thomas Leezer (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
93 Alan Riou (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
94 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy
95 Øivind Lukkedal (Nor) Joker Fuel of Norway
96 Yoann Offredo (Fra) Wanty-Gobert
97 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
98 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Wanty-Gobert
99 Frederik Backaert (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
100 Lars Saugstad (Nor) Uno-X Norwegian Development Team
101 Louis Bendixen (Den) Team Coop
102 Håkon Lunder Aalrust (Nor) Team Coop
103 Loïc Vliegen (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
104 Bryan Coquard (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
105 Otto Vergaerde (Bel) Corendon-Circus
106 Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
107 Kevyn Ista (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
108 Sondre Enger (Nor) Israel Cycling Academy
109 Andreas Vangstad (Nor) Joker Fuel of Norway
110 Herman Dahl (Nor) Joker Fuel of Norway
111 Jimmy Janssens (Bel) Corendon-Circus
112 Ryan Anderson (Can) Rally UHC Cycling
113 Svein Tuft (Can) Rally UHC Cycling
114 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
115 Erlend Jordbrekk Blikra (Nor) Team Coop
116 Dries De Bondt (Bel) Corendon-Circus
117 Aksel Fischer Aasheim (Nor) Joker Fuel of Norway 0:24:16