Mads Pedersen (Stölting) confirmed why he is regarded as the next Danish cycling star by taking Stölting’s first win of the 2016 season on the tough third stage of the Tour of Norway. Having joined a three-break after a fast start, he was initially dropped by Lluis Mas (Caja Rural) on the short, steep climb to the finish but he made it back in time to win the two-rider uphill sprint. Pieter Weening (Roompot) finished fourth and retained the lead.

 

We have gathered several reactions.

 

Mads Pedersen after first pro win: I knew that Mas had gone too early

Mads Pedersen has raced to a stunning victory on the third stage of the Tour of Norway after forcing his way into the day’s breakaway and then fighting back to catch and pass a late attack to take the stage honours. The win marks the Dane’s first professional victory and a long-awaited first win of the season for Team Stölting Service Group.

 

Pedersen was part of a breakaway of three riders that moved clear following a larger split of 20 after the first sprint point of the day. On the tough parcours, which included two categorised climbs, and several more uncategorised, the trio set about building their advantage. Pedersen showed his strength in taking first over the day’s two KOMs, and doing enough to take the lead it the KOM jersey by the end of the day.

 

With 60km to race their advantage was 5’40” but the three kept fighting against those chasing behind and with 15km to go the gap was still over 3’30”. Behind in the peloton Gerald Ciolek was involved in a crash as things became nervous ahead of the final climb to the finish and he did not finish the stage as a result. Further updates will follow on any injuries sustained.

 

As the three leaders hit the slopes of the final ascent, Pedersen pulled clear with Luis Mas Bonet (Caja Rural) before Mas Bonet attacked in the final kilomeres. It looked like Mads was slipping back but gradually, metre by metre he clawed his way back to the leader and sprinted past to take a convincing win on the line, one he will remember for a long time.

 

After the stage, Pedersen was clearly delighted with the win, “It’s such a nice feeling to get this win, it feels amazing, and it’s great for the team to get our first win of the year as well – it’s a win for the team.

 

“On the first climb I was away in a big group but Boassen Hagen was there so it wasn’t getting much room, then when we got caught I attacked and after that we were three. During the stage we had the feeling that the peloton might let us go as we weren’t a big threat overall but I knew we had to drop the Bora rider as he was the biggest threat on GC so we attacked him and this worked out.

 

“On the final climb when I was behind I just decided to keep my own speed and try to push all the way to the finish and hope that he had gone too deep too early. With 200m I finally got back to him and then with 150m I went and that was it. It’s nice to have the climbers jersey too but I will see how the stages ahead are and what we do.”

 

”It was our luck that Roompot wanted to let us go.
 

”I let Mas go. It was with one and a half kilometers to go. I thought it was too hard for him. I kept my own pace and with 250 metersto go, I caught him. 100 meters later I went. It was tough mentally to see a rider go away but I thought he went too early."

 

Lluis Mas close to making it two in a row for Caja Rural in Norwegian summit finish

Caja Rural - Seguros RGA fought hard for victory on stage 3 of Tour of Norway as Lluis Mas came very close to winning on the uphill finish in Geilo. Mas was part of a three-man breakaway, which managed to keep the peloton at bay and fight for the win.
 
With a bit more than 10 km to go, the trio became a duo and as the two riders approached the last kilometer, Mas attacked and went solo. The 27-year-old Spaniard quickly got a gap on his breakaway companion, Mads Pedersen (Stölting Service Group), and he could almost taste the victory. Unfortunately, with just 150 meters left to go, Pedersen regained contact and, on the final flat part, the Danish rider outsprinted Mas to take the win.
 
Pello Bilbao followed the other GC riders and finished eighth on the stage, which places him 10th overall. Fabricio Ferrari crossed the line in 11th place and he’s now ninth in the general classification.
 
Lluis Mas said: “It was difficult to make the break today because everybody wanted to be at the front. After the intermediate sprint, I attacked on the first climb until the break went clear. The three of us worked well together. On the final 2 km, the Stölting rider [Pedersen] attacked first and then I counterattacked. I didn’t think he would catch me but on the last 150 meters he came back and won the sprint. However, I feel very good and I know I can do something in this race. I will try again in the next days”.

 

Excellent Sondre Holst Enger beats the climbers in tough summit finish in Norway

”It was a real lactic acid fest. It was heavy, and it sucks that we didn’t catch the leader in the front. I felt good on the last climb,” Sondre Holst Enger told TV2 after having won the sprint for third.

 

”Maybe we though that we had it under control. I do not know. I had hoped that there would be no one ahead, but that's it.

 

”I have no idea about what I can do in the GC. I do not care about it and cannot be bothered about it. I take it day by day.”

 

His teammate Odd Christian Eiking was 6th.

 

“It was a tough stage with the weather, also with the course but the weather played a big role. It became a bit disorganized with the weather and a lot of changing of clothes. And in such a short stage, it costs some time.

 

“The break got a little too much leeway. It seems that the gap was at the limit of how much we could give them. But I felt that it was not fast enough in the end.

 

Teammate Sven Erik Bystrøm tried to close the gap.

 

”I was a little unsure of the distance. The radio did not work today, so I knew very little. I just got told to ride hard from the bottom. And I did, he told TV 2.

 

”It is incredibly impressive. Sondre can both sprint and climb. He and Odd are up there, and it's cool.

 

“Everything is possible. There is a new hard day tomorrow, and an exciting final stage too.”

 

Still no victory for Edvald Boasson Hagen in home race

Once again, Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka were riding with a plan centered around Edvald Boasson Hagen. The African Team riders followed all of the early moves which resulted in a compact group arriving at the first sprint of the day. Boasson Hagen won the sprint and gained enough seconds to move up to 3rd on the overall classification.

 

From the sprint, a big group of 20 odd riders, including Boasson Hagen, rode clear of the peloton. They were eventually chased down but not before Pedersen, Mas Bonet and Postlberger used their slight lead to make the definitive break of the day.

 

As the 168 kilometers that needed to be completed ticked by, the gap wasn’t really coming down much and so the African Team sent Adrien Niyonshuti to assist with the chase. There were 2 short sharp climbs in the final 15km of the stage and this is where we hoped to make an impact on the race.

 

Unfortunately there was very little assistance from any other teams in the chase and so once again the team weren’t racing for the win. A select chase group formed over the penultimate climb after Natnael Berhane did some good work on the slopes to make the race hard. Boasson Hagen was then left to take on the final climb from a group of 7 riders.

 

Boasson Hagen had to be content with 7th on the stage.

 

Sports director Oli Cookson said:
 

“The whole team was incredible as a unit all day. Reinardt [van Rensburg] was back and forth with bottles, did a big pull, got dropped then came back again and did another pull on the descent before the final climb. He can be proud of his work. Natnael also did a big final pull at the end and Adrien and Youcef [Reguigui] were working hard all day in wet and really hard conditions.

 

“One of the elements of cycling is that people don’t want to collaborate and that’s how it goes, it was a lottery in the end and we did we all we could. We worked as a team, we did all the planning we could but that’s the way it is. I think Edvald did a good ride up the final climb, he was up there with the first guys and he is up to third on GC now so we keep fighting.”

 

Aggressive ride by Bora-Argon 18 in Norway

For Bora-Argon 18, Lukas Pöstlberger tried to find his luck in today's breakaway. Together with Pedersen and Mas, the young Austrian built a lead over the peloton of more than 6 minutes. With 25k, to go the trio still had 4.10 and he was the virtual race leader.

 

On the last 3 climbs, the freshness of the breakaway trio was gone and also the fight for the stage win started. First it was Mas who attacked and Pöstlberger was dropped.

 

Again it was José Mendes who could secure a top ten finish for BORA – ARGON 18 by finishing in the first part of the peloton in 9th place. This result means also that he still is in the race for a GC podium.   

 

Paul Martens shows great improvement in Norway

Paul Martens showed improvement in the Tour of Norway’s third stage today after a difficult early season. Team LottoNL-Jumbo’s German rider finished 15th on the uphill to Geilo and Mads Pedersen (Stölting Service Group) won.

 

“We wanted to be part of the breakaway,” Sports Director Merijn Zeeman said. “Tom Van Asbroeck and Victor Campenaerts were the ones who had to make it into the break. They did the best they could. At a certain moment, the both of them were part of a group of twenty riders and they seemed to be able to stay in front. The peloton didn’t give it up, so everything came back together anyway. Three riders escaped at that moment and stayed in front.”

 

That meant that Team LottoNL-Jumbo had to count on Paul Martens for the final climb.

 

“He gave it his all,” Zeeman continued. “He’s improving slowly. He feels that he’s getting better and that’s great to see. Paul was suffering in the beginning of the season, but he is obviously improving. We want to continue with that improvement in the upcoming days.”

 

On Saturday, Martens gets another chance.

 

“The final part of the stage is on a tough local lap,” Zeeman added. “I think that it’s a day that suits Paul. We’re going to support him.”

 

Steele von Hoff loses points jersey at Tour of Norway

A fast stage from the start, ONE Pro Cycling looked to keep everything together to give Steele Von Hoff an opportunity to contend the first official sprint classification of the day and defend the Green jersey. The sprint took place at 24km, with Von Hoff positioning himself well and opening up his character sprint taking 2nd and accumulating two sprint points.

 

Pete Williams was pro active in his attempt to get into the breakaway but narrowly missed his chance as 3 riders went away shortly after the first sprint 28km into the race, gaining a maximum of 5 minutes throughout the stage.

 

Yellow jersey wearer Pieter Weening added another jersey to his collection after accumulating enough points to strip Steele Von Hoff of the Green Points jersey going into Stage 4. ONE Pro Cycling crossed the line safely after a tough day in extreme conditions, with Pete Williams showing his strength on the final climb as the first squad member to cross under the finish line.