Having finished the Tour de France strongly, Paul Voss made use of his great condition when he finished 6th in today's very hard first stage of the Arctic Race of Norway. His NetApp-Endura team will now turn its attention to sprinter Sam Bennett.

Paul Voss gave a convincing performance in the first stage of the Arctic Race of Norway. In the uphill finale to the North Cape, the native of Rostock, Germany, completed the stage with a strong sixth place finish. Lars Petter Nordhaug of Norway won the 204-km stage to kick off the tour with a solo finish just ahead of peloton, which had splintered off into several groups.

“We basically wanted to ride for Sam, but knew that it would be a very difficult finale. That’s why we wanted to go easy on riders like Paul and Jan [Barta] for as long as possible. The race went just the way we thought it would. A small group broke away and the big teams decisively closed the gap so that we could save our energy. Paul was our strongest rider on the final stretch. Sixth place is a very nice result. Tomorrow’s stage is long, but the profile won’t be as difficult as it was today. We can assume that the race will end in a sprint. We have a fast guy with Sam and want to ride for him tomorrow,” Enrico Poitschke, Sport Director of Team NetApp-Endura, said after the first stage of the Arctic Race of Norway.