With Bauke Mollema and Lars Petter Nordhaug as team captians, Belkin have big ambitions for the overall in the Tour of Norway but the team almost threw it all away in today's second stage of the race. When a two-rider break was up the road in the finale, the team did not get any information from the race organizers and had to use unconventional means to get back in contention.

The second stage of the Tour of Norway ran over almost two hundred kilometres and for a longtime, it seemed a peaceful race. In the last hour, however, it exploded. Marc de Maar of UnitedHealthcare managed to escape the pack and win, while Lars Petter Nordhaug was the Belkin Pro Cycling TEAM’s top rider in 10th. 

Approximately 45 kilometres from the line, the “Belkin Boys” took the bull by the horns. On a short section with crosswinds, the men in black and green were able to drop 30 riders. After that, Bauke Mollema won a bonus seconds sprint and De Maar and CCC Polsat Polkowice’s Maciej Paterski attacked. Sep Vanmarcke tried to chase the group down, but didn’t succeed. 

“Just like yesterday, we had little information from the organisation,” said a critical Erik Dekker. “They did not bother to tell us that there were two riders leading the race. That’s why our men in the bunch and I thought that we were in a good position with Sep.

"Fortunately, Merijn Zeeman called me. He was watching the race on television and saw that Sep’s group was never going to catch the two leaders. Because there are no radios allowed here, I decided to take a shortcut on the local circuit so that I could inform the guys in the pack from the side of the road. I shouted that they needed to lift up the pace to try and reel in the leaders so that Lars Petter and Bauke Mollema wouldn’t lose time for the overall. In the end, we were able to limit the damage." 

The difference between race leader De Maar and Mollema and Nordhaug (sixth and seventh) is now 22 and 24 seconds. 

Mollema doesn’t think that the battle has been lost.

“The differences are still fairly small and we have a few tough stages left. After a few weeks of training, I was wondering how I would be racing, but I have to say that I’m feeling fine. It would be nice to do a good GC, but that’s not my goal, it’s to hold on as long as possible.” 

The peloton faces the first difficult stage of the race tomorrow, with a finish at six hundred metres altitude.

“But I don’t expect major differences,” said Dekker. “The climb is not very steep. Not many riders will lose sleep over it tonight. We have some explosive guys and we hope to get in the mix for the stage victory.”