Nikias Arndt (Argos-Shimano) took his first professional win in today's 3rd stage of the Arctic Tour of Norway as the German took a very narrow win ahead of the Vacansoleil duo of Kenny Van Hummel and Barry Markus. 2nd place was enough for Van Hummel to take over the race lead from home favourite Thor Hushovd (BMC) who finished a disappointing 5th.

Yesterday Argos-Shimano was unlucky in the Arctic Tour of Norway as a couple of its riders were involved in a late crash that derailed their lead-out completely. Today the team made amends for yesterday's bad luck as they launched German sprinter Nikias Arndt perfectly and the youngster was strong enough to narrowly hold off teammates Kenny Van Hummel and Barry Markus in the final dash to the line.

Home favourite and race leader Thor Hushovd had - as it was the case on stage 1 - used most of his team to reel back the early break and so he had to fend for himself in the final sprint. Despite having a clean run to the line, the Norwegian simply didn't have the speed to contend with the best and had to settle for 5th.

Having taken 6 bonus seconds by virtue of his 2nd place finish, Van Hummel turned his 3-second deficit into a 3-second advantage over Hushovd and he will get his second opportunity to wear the blue leader's jersey in tomorrow's fourth and final stage. Once again a sprint finish is expected but the uphill finish should suit Hushovd well and the Norwegian will be eager to make up for today's defeat.

The longest stage of the race

The 201km stage was the longest of the race and with a mostly flat course, it was perfectly suited to another bunch sprint. Under bright sunshine, the riders headed out on a very scenic run into the beautiful Norwegian nature.

Early on, 7 riders escaped the peloton's clutches as Louis Verhelst (Cofidis), Tony Hurel (Europcar), Timofey Kritskiy (Katusha), Sven Erik Bystrøm (Team Øster Hus-Ridley), Sondre Moen Hurum (OneCo), Fabien Bacquet (BigMat) and Matthias Friedemann (Champion System) went up the road. That group was allowed to build up a gap before BMC started to control the race for leader Hushovd. The American team kept the breakaway on a short leash and with 70km to go, the escapees had an advantage of just 3.30.

BMC start to chase

Silvan Dillier, Martin Kohler and Dominik Nerz all did a huge job to keep the gap under control for BMC but at first they didn't get any help at all. With 53km to go, Vacansoleil showed their faith in Van Hummel and Markus and also started to contribute to the chase.

As the gap had come down to 1,17 with 47km to go, Plussbank also decided to work to set up a sprint win for young Sondre Holst Enger and with 3 teams now combining forces, the gap came down fast. As escapees started a small climb with 35km to go, their gap was under a minute.

Verhelst attacks

Verhelst decided to give it a go on his own but Bystrøm immediately made it across. Hurel and Kritskiy also got back on while Bacquet did a huge effort to try to join the leaders but the Frenchman ran out of power and fell back to Friedemann and Hurum.

Bystrøm kicked again near the top of the climb and at first Hurel was the only one able to folloe the young Norwegian. As the pace slowed down, the four escapees decided to once again join forces and they started cooperation again.

The first escapees are caught

Behind, BMC, Vacansoleil and Plussbank slowed a little bit down as they didn't want to catch the break too early and for a long time, the gap was kept stable at around 50 seconds. Friedemann and later Bacquet and Hurum all fell back into the peloton that started to prepare itself for a sprint finish.

BigMat now also started to contribute to the chase as they hoped to see Benoit Drujon mix it up with the best sprinters and their escapee Bacquet had now been caught. Despite their best efforts, the four riders started losing ground to the peloton and with 9km to go, Bystrøm made another attack that only Kristkiy could respond to.

All back together

While Hurel and Verhelst were both caught, Topsport Vlaanderen were now also chasing as they had yesterday's runner-up Tom Van Asbroeck in their ranks. Against all those teams, the escapees had no chance and with 7km to go, it was all back together.

Belkin now took control of the peloton to set up Jetse Bol for the win but with 5km to go, they were overtaken by Vacansoleil. That was when the peloton started to climb a small bridge which prompted a Cofidis rider to launch an attack.

Vanmarcke on the move

Sep Vanmarcke (Belkin) bridged across and those two riders combined forces. To bring back that move BMC had to use their final lead-out man Adam Blythe and the Brit led the peloton back up to the front duo with 2,8km to go.

The entire Argos-Shimano train now took control and despite a short-lived attempt from a Joker-Merida rider, the Dutch squad still had numbers when they led the peloton under the flamme rouge. Jonas Ahlstrand gave Arndt a perfect lead-out while Hushovd was well-placed in the German's wheel.

Those two rider both kicked for the line but while Hushovd faded, Van Hummel and Markus came fast from behind. However, they ran out of metres and so Arndt could celebrate his first professional win while Van Hummel once again took over the leader's jersey.

Result:

1. Nikias Arndt 4.40.29

2. Kenny Van Hummel

3. Barry Markus

4. Benoit Drujon

5. Thor Hushovd

6. Jo Ringheim

7. Tom Van Asbroeck

8. Haavard Blikra

9. Jon Einar Bergsland

10. Edwin Wilson

General classification:

1. Kenny Van Hummel 12.42.07

2. Thor Hushovd +0.03

3. Barry Markus +0.06

4. Nikias Arndt

5. Sander Helven +0.07

6. Tom Van Asbroeck +0.09

7. Tony Hurel+0.10

8. Marco Haller

9. Rüdiger Selig +0.12

10. Sven Erik Bystrøm

Points classification:

1. Kenny Van Hummel 34

2. Thor Hushovd 31

3. Barry Markus 21

4. Tom Van Asbroeck 17

5. Nikias Arndt 15

Mountains classification:

1. Lars-Petter Nordhaug 12

2. August Jensen 8

3. Sven Erik Bystrøm 6

4. Paul Martens 6

5. Bjørn Tore Nilsen Hoem 5

Youth classification:

1. Barry Markus 12.42.13

2. Nikias Arndt

3. Sander Helven +0.01

4. Tom Van Asbroeck +0.03

5. Marco Haller +0.04

Teams classification:

1. Topsport Vlaanderen 38.07.09

2. Vacansoleil

3. Katusha

4. Cofidis

5. BigMat