Tinkoff lines up this week at the four-day Arctic Race of Norway with an opportunistic team led by fast-finisher Oscar Gatto who comes to the race looking for stage wins after completing the first Tour de France of his career. Gatto will be looking to put the strength gained from the Grand Tour to good use in this fast-paced race.

The Italian will be joined by a young team, with Jay McCarthy adding more fire-power to the line-up here, as well as Michael Kolar and Slovakian road champion Juraj Sagan. The team is then completed by the experienced Yuri Trofimov and fellow Russian, Nikolay Trusov.

"Oscar Gatto will be our leader with the goal of a stage win,” explained Sport Director Bruno Cenghialta ahead of the race. “In my opinion, Oscar is right now the rider of the squad with the best form and legs that suit the very fast profile of the race. Jay McCarthy is also a fast rider, as are some others of our team, and as a result, our strategy will be to seek stage wins. We will use all our riders and adapt our strategy on a day-by-day basis to win at least a stage.

“Taking place in the vicinity of the Arctic Circle, the race is inherently difficult but its profile isn't a hard one. All our riders are used to tougher climbs and going from sea level to 550 meters with an average gradient of 4-5% is something they tackle nearly every day. These climbs aren't the Col du Tourmalet and what can make the race difficult to manage will be its very fast pace. As a result, our strategy will be to use the breakaways when they take place or create them ourselves.”

The race gets underway with a steady opening stage that features three classified climbs, the latter of which crests with only 18.5km to race. Depending on the race situation, this climb could play a part in deciding the first race leader in Norway. The second stage suits the sprinters, before a tough uphill finish on stage 3 on the climb of Korgfjellet. The race then ends with a rolling final stage, coming to a close in the town of Bodø, situated just north of the Arctic Circle.

Looking to the various stages, and where the team can target, Cenghialta said:

“In what regards the four stages, one could single out the third one as the queen stage, with a summit finish. The GC could be decided there but the differences will always be very small, no more than a few seconds. We will try there to see whether Oscar and Jay have the legs to be with the leaders. As I said, in these climbs Oscar can also be competitive and we could eventually try to make a move for the GC, but our primary goal in the race will remain to win a stage."