Arctic Race of Norway Stage 3 - 183Km - Finnsnes/Målselv *contains unmasked spoilers*

Melodeon

Right, time to have a go at a live stage thread, and this one is as good as any to have a try

The race in general:
4 stages in total, entirely above the Arctic Circle



Today's stage, stage 3, is the most northerly, and runs from Finnsnes to Målselv:


There are 3 classified climbs:


...including the finish:


Here's the General Classification after stage 2:


Sam Bennett is obviously doing very well, but don't forget that another Irish rider, Stephen Clancy, is here too, wearing number 212 in Team Novo Nordisk colours:



Northern Norway looks fantastic, but there's an atmosphere of wild toughness about the landscape that leaves you with no doubt but that this environment absolutely will kill you stone dead in short order if you don't give it utmost respect.

The locals seem to have really taken to supporting the race and we've seen some peculiar sights so far: a brass band on a bleak mountain top and another on a pontoon in the middle of a lake, a fireworks display for the peloton, the Norwegian army doing a Mexican wave, a tank keeping pace with the peloton alongside the road, a portly superhero in fetching yellow and pink, and who knows what else

The organisers are making a bid for Most Bizarre Prize In A Cycle Race with Jean Marc Bideau winning 500kg (yes, that's a half tonne!) of salmon in a mountain top sprint

Today's stage live on Eurosport from 4pm

Subpopulus

Finish looks a bit steep for Sam. Is he much of a puncher? I seem to remember him sprinting uphill to come second just behind Gerard Ciolek on a stage of the 2013 Tour of Britain

Darkglasses

Great preview!

Pudsy33

Subpopulus wrote: »

Finish looks a bit steep for Sam. Is he much of a puncher? I seem to remember him sprinting uphill to come second just behind Gerard Ciolek on a stage of the 2013 Tour of Britain

He's good at it, yeah. This is just too long though. 1 km he could definitely figure but this is a 4 km climb.

dastardly00

Ben Hermans from BMC has won the stage.

https://twitter.com/ArcticRaceofN/status/632576352777076736

imurdaddy

I have a PDF of the official road book if anyone wants it, gives details on the stages teams and countryside.