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Stephen Williams climbed to victory in stage 3 of the Arctic Race of Norway on Saturday. Going through a block headwind, the Israel-Premier Tech rider slogged his strategy to the win forward of Clément Champoussin (Arkéa-Samsic) and Cristian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan) who completed second and third respectively.
After a tough day of racing in chilly, wet and blustery situations, Dylan Teuns (Israel-Premier Tech) began the drawn-out dash with 500 metres to go within the class 1 Havøysund climb however was quickly overtaken by Williams on his left, after which Champoussin, Scaroni and Tobias Halland Johannsessen (Uno-X). Teuns held on for fifth place.
Williams additionally takes over the final classification, with a slim one-second lead over Scaroni and 9 seconds on Johannsessen who completed fourth on the stage. Chief into the stage, Noah Hobbs (Equipe continental Groupama-FDJ) struggled on the climbs and dropped to thirty eighth place general, 3:49 in arrears.
Gusty winds, rain and temperatures hovering round 9 levels added further challenges to stage 3. The 167km route, from Hammerfest to Havøysund, featured the climbs of Skaidi (1.9k at 4.9%), Kirkedalen (4.1km at 5.2%), Selvika (2.6km at 54%) and the ultimate ascent of Havøysund (2.2km at 10%).
Six riders escaped early to combat for the King of Mountain factors and the bonus seconds out there on the stage. Escapees Paul Double (Human Powered Well being), Michel Ries (Arkea-Samsic), Vincent van Hemelen (Flanders-Baloise), Ulrik Tvedt (Norway) and Coop-Pepsol teammates Karsten Feldmann and Anton Stensby managed to get a most hole of 5 minutes with 71 kilometres to go.
The smallest rider Double was the primary to falter, then Feldmann fell off the tempo, whereas Van Hemelen did the vast majority of the pace-making on the hunt for extra KOM factors.
The peloton, principally led by the Uno-X group, shattered and re-formed underneath the drive of the blustery winds forcing riders off the again.
With the hole at 10 seconds, Van Hemelen took off solo and continued to push the tempo, going all in till he was caught on the backside of the ultimate climb. The Belgian did snag sufficient factors to win the ultimate climber’s classification if he finishes stage 4 tomorrow.
The UNO-X and Israel-Premier Tech riders took over the entrance of the diminished area within the ultimate uphill kilometres to the end line.
Tomorrow’s ultimate stage runs 171km from Kvalsund to Nordkapp and two climbs within the ultimate 25km will resolve the general race, and with first and fifteenth general separated solely by 31 seconds, it is set to be a becoming finale.
Outcomes
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