Tinkoff-Saxo Michael Valgren played one of the leading roles on stage 3 of Tour des Fjords responding to a string of breakaway attempts until he finally went solo in the last part of the stage. Despite being caught within the 20km marker, Valgred picked up enough bonus seconds to climb to 4th in the overall standings lead by Kristoff, who also scored his third win in a row.
 
After crossing the line, Michael Valgren explains that his active riding in the breakaways wasn’t originally planned but came as a result of several splits in the main bunch.
 
“The stage started out fast and hard, as we rode down to 262m below sea level in a tunnel, where Orica then put in a hard tempo on the way up. I was with Chris Anker and Pavel Brutt in a 17-man front group as we reemerged and we had an advantage of about a minute at some point. But Trek and Katusha worked together and brought everything back together. But we were approaching an intermediate sprint, so I decided to attack and get the seconds, cause you never know what the situation is on the final stage”, explains Michael Valgren, who was then accompanied by three riders out front.
 
“I also won the next sprint in the 4-man group and at some point I sensed that the other guys were tired and some of them didn’t work at the front due to the tactical situation, so I attacked and rode off alone. It was actually a pretty good feeling to be out there for myself after nearly a month without racing. I knew that I would probably get caught again and I stood a slim chance but instead of just following Kristoff to the sprint, I thought I might as well just challenge from the front”, adds Michael Valgren.

Despite being reeled back in with around 18km to go on stage 3 to Sauda, the Danish Champion, who is riding his first race since Liège-Bastogne-Liège, notes that he is satisfied with his current form.
 
“In general, I’m pretty pleased with my current shape ahead of the summer races. Right now I’m fourth in the GC and I had hoped to do a good result but I hadn’t counted on it. I think my altitude training camp went well, normally I need a few races to accommodate afterwards, but this time I think it has been a pretty smooth transition. Let’s see what happens in the last two stages, but I would rather try to win and then get 28th than just hang tight and finish 4th”, underlines Michael Valgren, who is backed by his sports director Nicki Sørensen:
 
“We’re 4th in the GC and although the next two days don’t feature the hardest stage profiles, we want to seize the opportunities and try to win the race. Of course that will be very difficult with Kristoff showing great shape and a strong team but I’m glad to see Valgren riding with motivation and increasing shape. The rest of the guys are ready to support him, while Nikolay [Trusov], who was 8th in the sprint today, will continue to try”, concludes Nicki Sørensen.