Kristoff takes win number 98 at the Artic Race of Norway
Stage 2 of the Artic race of Norway was a 166.5 kilometre stage from Tennevoll to Sørreisa covering 2279 metres of elevation gain across the stage, with the majority coming in the opening with two category one climbs placed at the very beginning, to provide a launch pad for a breakaway. The finale contained 3 laps of a local circuit containing a gravel section.
The category one climbs did in fact provide a launch pad for the breakway to take-off in the Arctic circle, with Storm Ingebrigtsen (Coop-Repsol), Eirik Vang Aas (Coop-Repsol), Josh Burnett (Burgos Pellet BH) and Georg Rydningen Martinsen (Lillehammer CK) going clear of the peloton, on what was a much less gloomy affair than stage 1 was.
As the riders went into the final lap of the localised circuit, the breakaway of the day was reeled in by the peloton, in which then Abram Stockman (Unibet Tietema Rockets) tried his luck at the breakaway poker gaining a slim advantage of 8 seconds.
With 11 kilometres to go, the roads narrowed on some country roads where the a crash then nearly occurred in the peloton as the fight for position in the ensuing sprint became even more prominent.
A counter-attack followed on the gravel section from the American Kevin Vermaerke (Picnic PostNL), where he quickly caught and flew by Stockman with 7.8 kilometres to go.
With the carrot dangled ahead for the peloton, the chase was on heading into the last 6 kilometres which was spear headed by Equipo Kern Pharma to some surprise, where then the red and yellow of Uno-X Mobility came out in force at the front peloton in the last 4 kilometres to tee up Alexander Kristoff as Vermaerke was caught.
Heading into the final kilometre, Uno-X Mobility delivered textbook team work, after a nasty crash, with Kristoff taking win number 98 by a significant margin in his last ever race in Norway.
A counter-attack followed on the gravel section from the American Kevin Vermaerke (Picnic PostNL), where he quickly caught and flew by Stockman with 7.8 kilometres to go.
With the carrot dangled ahead for the peloton, the chase was on heading into the last 6 kilometres which was spear headed by Equipo Kern Pharma to some surprise, where then the red and yellow of Uno-X Mobility came out in force at the front peloton in the last 4 kilometres to tee up Alexander Kristoff as Vermaerke was caught.
Heading into the final kilometre, Uno-X Mobility delivered textbook team work, after a nasty crash, with Kristoff taking win number 98 by a significant margin.
Result: Arctic Race of Norway: Stage 2
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