IAM went into the final stage of the Arctic Race of Norway with the play to blow the race apart. Despite repeated attempts, however, the Swiss team came away from the stage empty-handed.

The second edition of the Arctic Race of Norway ended with a sprint victory by Alexander Kristoff (Katusha).  Meanwhile, Steven Kruijswijk (Belkin) won the overall in the event organized by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), who also organize the Tour de France. 

IAM Cycling showed their colors with another attack by Matthias Brändle on the last climb, as well as a strong showing from Martin Elmiger who took 12th on the stage and 7th overall, thirty seconds off the winner.
 
When analyzing the performance throughout the week, Matthias Brändle highlighted the good work done by the entire team. 

“We were motivated to go out and win a stage.  Today we tried everything with Martin.  The idea was to go on the offensive on the second to last round and race like a time trial.  But that did not work. 

"So after discussing the situation with Martin, I moved ahead on the final climb to try and force a break.  But that did not work either.  There will be a next time. 

"Finding a rhythm was not obvious after having gone eight weeks without competition.  Training never can replace a real race experience.  I’ll go home for a few days and then I’ll be ready for the Classic de l’Indre and especially the Tour du Poitou-Charentes where I will aim for the time trial.” 
 
Kjell Carlström, the directeur sportif for IAM Cycling, said he was satisfied with his team. 

“Today we focused on the offensive, but the other teams did not fall into our traps.  Looking at the balance of the week, I find our results fine considering the circumstances.  It is likely we would have done better in the 2nd stage if Roger Kluge and Sondre Holst Enger had not crashed.  We tried to win a stage, but just couldn’t quite manage it.”