Arctic Race: Teuns strikes again in Narvik

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Dylan Teuns (BMC) won the opening stage of the Arctic Race of Norway, using his run of brilliant form to win the uphill sprint and so become the first leader of the four-day race.

The 25-year-old Belgian had not won a race until late July but has since taken stage victories and overall success at the Tour de Wallonie and the Tour de Pologne.

"It's still a little bit of a surprise to win today but I knew it wasn't meant to be a bunch sprint here," Teuns said after the victory. "I was already here in Narvik for the last stage in 2015. One of my team-mates [Silvan Dillier] won. There were a few laps that time and only one today. In the last five kilometres, I just followed the good riders in the front. I didn't do anything until I found the right moment on the last climb. I wasn't at the front in the beginning but I was in the top 10 and I launched my attack in the very last meters of the climb. I took the corner to the right. I saw I had a gap so I kept going until the finish line."

The 156km stage to Narvik was raced in the rain but that did not deter several attacks in the final rolling kilometres as riders tried to escape the control of the sprinters and their teams. All eyes were on new European road race champion Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin), but several attacks lined out the peloton and then Teuns turned on his aggression and blew the peloton apart.

He beat August Jensen (Team Coop) of Norway and Italy’s Andrea Pasqualon (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) by two seconds, with Kristoff eventually finishing seventh.

Thanks to time bonuses, Teuns leads Jensen by six seconds in the overall classification. Friday’s 184km second stage is from Sjøvegan to Bardufoss.

"There are three more days. I'll defend the jersey for sure," Teuns said. "It's a great feeling to win the first stage and to lead the race. It also means the next three days will be hard. Tomorrow, the sprinters' teams need to control the race for the stage victory. It's a difficult race to control. It was full gas in the first hour today but we'll do our best to defend this position till the very end of the Arctic Race."

More to follow.

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