Cycling: The second edition of the Arctic Race of Norway ended today with a 165-kilometer stage around Tromsø. And once again the Norwegian Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) had the fastest legs in the final. He won ahead of Thor Hushovd (BMC) and NetApp Endura pro Sam Bennett.
The finale in Norway's fourth largest city with 70.000 inhabitants could not have been more exciting. After the peloton had ridden a loop through the Tromsø area, it was finally a circuit to complete, in which the organizers had installed an executioner, who brought the expected excitement.
In the final, the field was reduced to a small leading group due to the profile of the route, in which all the favorites for overall victory were found, but a large number of the sprinters around Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) dropped out.
Oscar Gatto (Cannondale) and Kristoff broke away on the last crossing of the climb in the center of town, which had to be mastered several times in the finale. A few meters behind followed overall leader Steven Kruijswijk and his Belkin teammate Lars-Petter Nordhaug. Paul Voss (NetApp-Endura) saved himself over the mountain on his rear wheel. There was no sign of one driver at this point: Thor Hushovd. The Norwegian lost contact about 500 meters before the crossing.
On the technically demanding descent, however, Hushovd shot past all the riders in front of him, putting pressure on Kristoff as well. He managed to intercept his compatriot in the last 100 meters and thus denied him what was probably his last career win - Hushovd will retire at the end of the season.
As a result, Kristoff improved to second place in the overall standings. Victory went to Kruijswijk here. Third place was taken by the winner of the opening round, Nordhaug. Paul Voss is a strong fifth.