Arctic Race of Norway: Hermans wins stage 3

Ben Hermans (BMC) won the third stage of the Arctic Race of Norway in a dramatic finish, catching and passing late-race soloist Rein Taaramae (Astana) on the hilltop finish in Målselv. Mathias Frank (IAM Cycling) finished the day in third place.

"i was always 150 metres behind," Hermans said. "I knew there was a headwind at 1.5 kilometres to go and I could have jumped across but I would have exploded myself, so I waited on the wheels of my teammates. In the last kilometre it was a tailwind, I attacked full gas. Maybe I could have exploded with 250 metres to go, but I had to do it if I wanted to win. Finally, I didn't explode and I had really good legs.

"It is amazing, especially knowing that if you win, you take the 10 seconds bonus and the jersey. It's really incredible."

Hermans gained enough time in his pursuit for the stage victory to also move into the race lead, taking over from Alexander Kristoff (Katusha). The BMC rider now leads the race by seven seconds ahead of Taaramae and 24 seconds to Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhubeka).

"Of course I can win this race, I just need the same legs tomorrow," Hermans added. "I have a strong team, and normally we can control it. We still have to race but I think it is possible to win."

How it unfolded

It wasn’t long before the break of the day formed with with six riders, Christopher Williams (Team Novo Nordisk), Fridtjof Roinas (Team Sparebanken Sor), Marius Andre Hafsas (Team Fixit.no), Herman Dahl (Team Sparebanken Sor), Jon Soeveras Breivold (Team Froy Oslo) and Haavard Blikra (Team Coop-Oster Hus) establishing a significant lead of nearly seven minutes.

With the GC wide open and stage 3 being the only summit finish of the race, the WorldTour teams were unlikely to let the move gain too much time.

Astana, BMC Racing and IAM Cycling, provided much of the chasing impetus, with the deficit reduced to a more manageable four minutes.

Blikra picked up the points at the first intermediate sprint, and the first two climbs to give him the virtual lead in the mountains competition as the race swung south, and back through Finnsnes before the final 60 kilometres towards Malselv.

As had been the case for most of the stage, Astana, BMC Racing and IAM Cycling dominated the front of the peloton, lining out the bunch as the race dove towards the deciding climb. With 30 kilometres to go the six-man break had a shade over two minutes.

Within five kilometres the lead was down to just over a minute, Astana the main protagonists as they sought to set up their climber, Taaramae, for the final ascent.

The race was all back together heading into the final climb, when Taaramae made a strong attack, gaining time on the shattering peloton behind. It looked as though he was on his way to the stage win, however, Hermans launched himself across and connected with the Astana rider with 150 metres to go. Hermans only stayed with Taaramae for a few seconds before he made his own winning attack for the finish line, taking the stage win and the overall race lead.

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