Trek Factory Racing’s confidence was high before the 185-kilometer stage three at the Tour of Norway with a long mountain climb perfectly situated at the end and a team that, at least on paper, had the climbing firepower to rip apart the race on the steep slope.

But racing does not always unfold to plan, and at the top of the snow blanketed climb a solo rider emerged: Jesper Hansen (Tinkoff-Saxo) defended his lead down the wet descent and to the finish line to take the stage win and the leader’s jersey – the first of his professional career.

Seven more riders crossed the finish before a large group arrived with Bob Jungels, 1 minute and 30 seconds behind Hansen, and Fränk Schleck a few seconds later.

Sport director Kim Andersen pulled no punches in hiding his dissatisfaction:

“I am very disappointed, we need to do better. We pulled behind to bring the breakaway back because we thought we could do something on this climb.  We just didn’t have the legs. We had a plan and tried to do it, but we cannot be satisfied with how we finished today – we have a team here that should be in a better position than we are now.”

It was a rightfully determined team strategy: the early five-man breakaway was brought back to the fold before the start of the 11-kilometer climb with assistance from Gert Steegmans, Yaroslav Popovych and Gregory Rast while Fränk Schleck, Bauke Mollema and Bob Jungels waited in the wings.

Everything was running smoothly at the bottom of the long uphill as Schleck pushed the early pace, but it soon became apparent the legs didn’t match the desires and by the crest of the climb the team’s GC hopes had slipped backward.

“It was a windy stage again, and everyone was waiting for the last climb, and we did the same actually,” Bob Jungels explained. “We were hoping for better legs than we had in the end. We were confident before the stage, and it was a really hard climb. I could follow the pace at the beginning of the climb, but at the end I was not that comfortable anymore.

“For me, my feelings were not the best, but it could be worse since this is the restart after my break. I was at my limit today, but I managed to stay with the first big group. It’s a little bit disappointing after the good feelings I had yesterday. We were expecting a bit more, but okay, that’s how it is. There were a couple of guys that were just stronger, and that’s racing.”

With two more difficult stages ahead, the race is not finished although attaining the GC podium may be out of range.

Andersen added, “Bob is still in reach of a top 10, which is nothing special, but we will try to do the best. The race is still not over, but it will not be easy - the final two stages are hard and there can still happen a lot of things.”

Jungels agreed. “I thought today that my condition is not bad, but it’s not where it should be to win this race. Looking to the next races the shape is good, I am okay, but for this race it needs to be on a higher level. A top 10 is still possible, but we will have to see.”