August 18/19 14:53 pm - Houle 5th afer Final Stage of Arctic Tour of Norway

Posted by Editoress on 08/18/19
 

Norwegian riders finished 1-2 in the final stage of the Arctic Race of Norway with Markus Hoelgaard and national champion Amund Grøndahl Jansen but the overall victory went to Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) who came third on the line in Narvik and beat Warren Barguil by only one second.

Battles for time bonus and KOM
116 riders started stage 4 of the 7th Arctic Race of Norway in Lødingen. Many skirsmishes took place in the first part of the race. Green jersey holder Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) broke away at km 18 along with his team-mate Lasse Norman Hansen and five other riders but they were brought back before the first intermediate sprint at Kongsvik, km 27.5, where Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) outsprinted Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic) and Krists Neilands (Israel Cycling Academy). Therefore, the race leader extended his advantage over runner up Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) by two seconds. The second fight of the day was for the King of the Mountains. At Gullberget Summit, km 47, Jonas Hvideberg (Uno-X Norwegian Development Team) crested in first position ahead of Tom-Jelte Slagter (Dimension Data) and Van der Poel who participated in a 14-man breakaway that generated a six-man strong front group at half way into the race: Hvideberg, Slagter, Andreas Vangstad (Joker Fuel of Norway), Tom Van Asbroeck (Israel Cycling Academy), Pascal Eenkhorn (Jumbo-Visma) and Otto Vergaerde (Corendon-Circus).

Nine riders in the lead
Pavel Kotchekov (Katusha-Alpecin), Johan Le Bon (Vital Concept-B&B Hôtels) and Kenny Molly (Wallonie-Bruxelles) bridged the gap to make it a 9-man leading group with 50km to go. Astana and Arkéa-Samsic were the most committed teams at the helm of the peloton, especially the Kazakh team eager to put Lutsenko in a position to contest more time bonuses. The breakaway split and four riders entered the finishing circuit in the lead: Van Asbroeck, Eenkhorn, Vangstad and Hvideberg. The peloton didn’t catch them before the second intermediate sprint of the day with 31.5km to go where Vangstad passed first in front of Eenkhorn and Hvideberg. It was all together again with 29km remaining.

Odd Christian Eiking is the King of the Mountains
Stage 3 winner Odd Christian Eiking (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) went on the hunt for the King of the Mountains salmon jersey with 26.5km to go. Jimmy Janssens (Corendon-Circus), Kristian Aasvold (Coop), Lucas Erikson (Riwal) and Mads Würtz Schmidt (Katusha-Alpecin) got a gap at 20km to go. It was all together again with 17km remaining. Lutsenko beat Barguil for the third and last intermediate sprint with 10km to go. Markus Hoelgaard (Uno-X Norwegian Development Team) went clear in the last climb with 6km to go. He forged on and fended off the return of Grøndahl Jansen of Jumbo-Visma who chased by himself in the last kilometre but couldn’t bridge the gap to his compatriot. Lutsenko sprinted to third place, which earned him four seconds of time bonus, the equivalent of his deficit to Barguil, but one second on the line between them two made the Kazakh champion the seventh winner of the Arctic Race of Norway over than the French champion.


Canada's Hugo Houle (Astana Pro Team) finished 11th on the stage at 9 seconds back and 5th in the final GC at 40 seconds.

Results

Arctic Tour of Norway: Stages 1 & 2

Houle 5th overall after Stage 3 of Arctic Tour of Norway