Race ambassador and race favorite Thor Hushovd was true to his words as he won the event of his dreams in the far north of Norway. His successful final sprint awarded him the time bonus he needed to pass Kenny van Hummel in the overall classification. It was not just another victory but an absolute triumph for the “Thunder God” [Thor in Scandinavian mythology] who overcame health troubles and difficult times to come back as a great champion despite missing out on the Tour de France this year.
Nordhaug is the King of the Mountains
With five laps to go on the finishing circuit of Harstad, packed with enthusiastic spectators the Canadian was the last breakaway rider to refuse to be reeled in. Even though Lars-Petter Nordhaug (Belkin) was already sure of being the King of the Mountain of the Arctic Race of Norway, he showed once again that he was the best climber by winning the last prize of the classification he led since day 1. After his acceleration, it was all together with 25km to go. Attacks kept going on with Baptiste Planckaert (Crelan-Euphony), Reidar Borgersen (Joker-Merida), Jetse Bol (Belkin) and Zico Waeytens (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise). But it was down to a bunch sprint for the last intermediate sprint with two laps to. Hushovd was beaten on the line by Tony Hurel (Europcar). It meant the Norwegian was still one second behind Kenny van Hummel on GC.
Hushovd crowns it all
The last three attackers were Sondre Holst Enger (Team Plussbank), Tobias Ludvigsson (Argos-Shimano) and Jan Ghyselinck (Cofidis). The young Norwegian prodigy was the last man caught with 1.7km to go. The final sprint was launched on the uphill stretch by Belkin in favor of Paul Martens but the German got passed by Hushovd who had to go very deep to grab the result he needed for winning the Arctic Race overall. Coming home in third place, stage 3 winner Nikias Arndt of Argos-Shimano confirmed a second day in a row that he’s the revelation of the Arctic Race of Norway. Third overall and best young rider, the 21 year old German has boosted his confidence ahead of the first Grand Tour of his career, the Vuelta a España, starting in two weeks.
Thor Hushovd: “I couldn’t let the public down”
“Well, that was deep”, reacted Thor Hushovd about the violent effort he was forced to produce for winning the final sprint uphill in the Skolegata (the school’s street) at Harstad. “Having not won the last intermediate sprint, I had to gain time over Van Hummel. Winning the stage was the best way to make it. Before coming to the Arctic Race of Norway, I said I wanted to win a stage and the overall, so I feel that it is mission accomplished now. It’s massive but it’s been hard. I was encouraged so much by the public that I couldn’t let them down. I had to win for all these people who came and support us, not only myself. I’m proud of what I’ve done but I’m even prouder of what my country has done for cycling this week. The support alongside the road has been incredibly fantastic, as well as the success of the race on TV. For Norwegians, this is the small Tour de France and they want it to look the same with the same enthusiasm. I don’t know if I’ll be the race ambassador forever but for sure, the race has a great future.”
“I had to dig deep,” Hushovd said. “I was confident this morning because I knew this sprint was good for me, but I didn’t know it was that hard and that steep. I said to myself in the end – with all the public here – I really wanted to give this victory to them,” Hushovd said. “A big congratulations to the public for supporting this race.”
Helping Hushovd secure the BMC Racing Team’s 22nd and 23rd victories of the year were teammates Adam Blythe, Silvan Dillier, Martin Kohler, Sebastian Lander and Dominik Nerz. The five were pressed into duty several times on the final stages to bring back breakaways. “We knew this race was important to Thor, so winning the stage and the overall was great,” BMC Racing Team Assistant Director Yvon Ledanois said. “I thank everyone on the team for working so hard, all the riders and all the staff. This result is for everybody.”
