Pieter Weening took his first win for his new Roompot team by riding to a magnificent solo victory in the Tour of Norway queen stage. Having attacked two kilometres from the top of the final climb, he quickly opened a 40-second advantage on a 9-rider chase group and even pushed it out to 45 seconds on the descent and flat run-in to the finish. Sondre Holst Enger and Odd Christian Eiking (Norway) were first in the sprint for second while Weening moved into the race lead.

 

When he joined Orica-GreenEDGE, Pieter Weening seemed to be on track for a huge successful time as he improved his level significantly. In 2013, he won the Tour de Pologne overall and one year later he took his second Giro d’Italia stage win.

 

However, things turned sour in 2015 and very early in the year it became evident that he didn’t have a future in the Australian team. Instead, he became the marquee signing of his home team Roompot that were looking for strong Dutchmen to lead the team and achieve more wins after a meagre debut season.

 

In March, Weening proved that he was back on track when he almost won the queen stage of the Volta a Catalunya but he cracked completely near the top of the final climb after a great solo ride. Since then, he has been aggressive in the Ardennes classics and his good form made him an obvious contender for this week’s Tour of Norway.

 

Not known for his explosive climbing skills, Weening knew that he had to make use of the only long climb in the race and so he had to excel in today’s queen stage of the race. That’s what he did as he attacked two kilometres from the top of the ascent and then held off a formidable 9-rider chase group in the final 20km to take his first win for his new team and ride himself into yellow.

 

The stage ended with the 11.3km climb of Flisetjønsskaret that averaged 7% over 11.3km and summited just 19.2km from the line. Strong work by several teams had made sure that things were back together when they hit the ascent with 30km to go.

 

Sparebanken led the peloton onto the climb and they immediately created a huge selection as they wanted to set Andreas Vangstand up for the finale. Among the riders to lose contact was KOM leader Haavard Blikra (Coop).

 

When the final Sparebanken rider swung off, the pace briefly dropped before Reinardt van Rensburg took over for Dimension Data. This opened the door for the attacks to start and it was Krister Hagen (Coop) who made the first move. Eliot Lietaer (Topsport) quickly joined him and soon Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto Soudal) also bridged the gap.

 

Dimension Data had to take control and it was Natnael Berhane who created a big selection by riding tempo on the front. It was too much for race leader Steele von Hoff (ONE) who was dropped with 27km to go.

 

A Bora-Argon 18 rider attacked and had to dig very deep to get across. However, just as he made the junction, Marczynski went again and while he quickly rode away, Berhane brought the rest of the group back.

 

With 26km to go, Marczynski was 13 seconds ahead of the small peloton which was now led by Stölting as Berhane had swung off and left Boasson Hagen isolated. However, it was the Norwegian national team that did a lot of damage when Sondre Holst Enger hit the front and he quickly brought the Polish champion back while reducing the group to less than 15 riders.

 

Enger kept riding on the front until 21.7km remained. Here Pieter Weening (Roompot) launched his big attack and no one could even try to respond to the strong Dutchman who surged clear immediately.

 

Enger led the chase for a while while Jose Mendes (Bora-Aron 18) made a failed attempt to brudge across. Weening was increasing his advantage and this forced Boasson Hagen and Eiking to start to work themselves. With 20km to go, the gap had gone out to 40 seconds and the two Norwegians were doing their best to keep the situation under control. Only Eliot Lietaer (Topsport Vlaanderen), Marco Minnaard (Wanty), Andreas Vangstad (Sparebanken), Fabricio Ferrari (Caja Rural), Sander Armee (Lotto Soudal) Boasson Hagen, Eiking, Mendes and the struggling Enger had survived as the steep climb had taken its toll.

 

Weening was first over the top with a 40-second advantage while Armee made a late attack to crest the summit in second position. Ferrari also took off to be third across the line while Eiking was leading the group of favourites a few seconds further back after Boasson Hagen had drifted to the rear end of the group. A second group with the likes of Marczynski and Pello Bilbao (Caja Rural) was not that far back.

 

Armee and Ferrari were brought back and the group immediately started to cooperate. Hence, Weening was losing ground and as he entered the final 15km, he had lost 10 seconds of his advantage.

 

Minnaard tried to attack from the group of favourites but Armee quickly shut it down and the nine riders again started to trade pulls. As the real descent started, Boasson Hagen did most of the work and constantly created splits in the group but he failed to bring Weening back. Entering the final 10km, the gap was still 30 seconds while the second big group was at 1.20.

 

Boasson Hagen, Eiking and Enger shared the pace-setting but their work didn’t have any effect. As they reached the bottom of the descent with 4km to go, the gap was still 30 seconds and in fact they were also losing ground to the second group which was now just 1 minute behind the lone Ducthman.

 

With 3.7km to go, Armee attacked again but he was closely marked by Minnaard and so the group stayed together. However, the cooperation was gone and so Weening had pushed his gap out to 40 seconds with 3km to go.

 

Boasson Hagen was riding for GC so he again took responsibility but he didn’t get much help from his companions. The cohesion got slightly better but with Paul Martens (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Linus Gerdemann (Stölting) working hard in the second group, they were constantly getting closer.

 

At the passage of the flamme rouge, an impressive Weening had increased his advantage to 55 seconds and even pushed his advantage over the second group out to 1.15. As the road started to rise, Vangstad attacked from the chase group and he got an immediate gap before Ferrai bridged across.

 

While Weening sprinted to the line to celebrate his first win for Roompot, Armee tried to join Ferrari and Vangstad but he had the rest of the group in tow. He made the junction when Ferrari launched the sprint and it allowed Enger and Eiking to make it two riders from the national group to lead the group across the line with a time loss of 45 seconds. Maurits Lammertink (Roompot) was the fastest in the second group a few seconds later.

 

With the win, Weening of course moves into the race lead with a solid 50-second advantage over Enger, with Eiking and Boasson Hagen making it three Norwegians in the top 4. He faces another very tough challenge tomorrow when the riders will return to the punchy climb to the finish in Geilo. The category 1 Imingfjell (24km, 4.3%) features on in the first half and then there’s a category 2 climb (4.7km, 8.5%) just after the midpoint. From there it is a flat run to Geilo where the stage finishes at the top of a 2.3km category 2 climb that averages 7.9%.

 

The queen stage

After the flat opener, it was already time for the queen stage which brought the riders over 211.2km from Kragerø to Rjukan. It wasa mostly flat stage with just a single category 2 climb (3.1km, 6.8%) after the midpoint but the stage had a nasty sting in its tail. Flisetjønsskaret was an 11.3km category 1 climb that averaged 7% and summited just 19.2km from the finish. From there it was a downhill run to the final 3km which were slightly uphill.

 

Alexander Gingsjö (Tre Berg) was absent when the riders gathered for the start under a beautiful sunny sky and after a small crash with riders from Nippo, Ringeriks-Kraft, FixIT and the national team in the neutral zone, they were all eager to race. Hence, it became a very fast start to the stage with numerous attacks.

 

Lots of crashes

While a four-rider group got clear, Max Emil Kørner (Ringeriks Kraft), Asbjørn Kragh (Delko) and Glenn O’Shea (ONE) crashed out of the race and Jason Lowndes (Drapac), Jonas Abrahamsen (Tinkeriks) and Tobias Foss (Norway) also had to work hard to get back after a tumble. The front group swelled to 16 riders but at the 10km mark, it was all back together.

 

No one had escaped as they got to the first intermediate sprint after more than 30km of racing and this allowed Boasson Hagen to pick up three bonus seconds by holding off von Hoff and Tom Van Asbroeck (LottoNL-Jumbo). That didn’t slow the peloton down though and the aggressive riding continued, with the riders covering 50km during the first hour.

 

Five riders get clear

Zakkari Dempster (Bora) and Herman Dahl (Sparebanken) briefly got clear but it soon came back together. Instead, Gert Dockx (Lotto Soudal), Steven Lammertink (LottoNL-Jumbo), Cesare Benedetti (Bora-Argon 18), Mathias Krizek (Roth) and Amond Grøndahl Jansen (Joker) escaped after 60km of fast racing.

 

The peloton finally slowed down and so the gap had gone out to 4.50 at the 70km mark. That’s when ONE hit the front with Sebastian Lander and he kept the gap stable at around five minutes. Meanwhile, Lowndes left the race and Dockx won the final intermediate sprint by holding off Jansen and Lammertink

 

KOM points for Benedetti

At the 100km mark, the gap was still 5.15 and rain briefly fell on the course. However, it was again dry when the escapees hit the first climb with an advantage of 4.20. In the peloton, Matthew Goss was now doing the work for ONE and he was getting assistance from Adrien Niyonshuti (Dimension Data) and a few riders from the Coop team. The Australian quickly disappeared though and it was left to the other riders to slowly bring the escapees back.

 

Benedetti beat Krizek, Lammertink, Jansen and Dockx in the KOM sprint before Blikra made a small attack to be sixth across the line 3.40 later. As they headed down the descent, ONE and Niyonshuti went back to work and they now got assistance from a rider from Diego Rubio (Caja Rural).

 

Sparebanken come to the fore

The chase really got organized and as Lander and Goss again took over from their ONE teammate, the gap melted away. It was down to 3.20 with 65km to go.

 

With 60km to go, the gap had dropped to less than 3 minutes and now the chase got more organized as Sparebanken asked to riders to work with Goss, Lander, Rubio and Niyonshuti.  The effort paid off as the advantage had been reduced to just 2.15 as they entered the final 50km.

 

The peloton accelerates

Lander and Goss ended their work, leaving it to Niyonshuti, Rubio and the Sparebanken riders to set the pace. Sparebanken went full gas when the gap had gone out to 2.40 and then blew up as they had shaved 20 seconds off the advantage.

 

Rubio and a ONE rider took over from the Norwegians as they hit a small climb and this spelled the end for Lander and Goss who were dropped. They slowly reduced the gap to less than two minutes as they entered the final 35km.

 

The break is caught

Caja Rural gathered their entire team on the front to set up Pello Bilbao for the finale and they upped the pace significantly.  When Sparebanken took over, the gap had dropped to 1.04 and when the Spaniards accelerated even further, there were only 45 seconds left of the advantage.

 

As the road started to rise slightly, riders were getting dropped, with the Wanty team now doing the damage. One of the small continental teams even enjoyed a short spell on the front with 32km to go before Sparebanken brought it all back together with 30km to go. Moments later, they hit the climb where Weening made his move.