Hermans wins Arctic Race of Norway

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Ben Hermans (Israel Start-Up Nation) secured overall victory at the Arctic Tour of Norway on Sunday, with Philipp Walsleben (Alpecin-Fenix) beating a resurgent Niki Terpstra (TotalEnergies) to win the final stage to Harstad above the Arctic circle.

Hermans won stage 3 to Målselv on Saturday, beating Odd Christian Eiking (Intermarché-Wanty) on the 3.7km uphill finish. His Israel Start-Up Nation team then controlled the early break on the final stage on the hilly Harstad finishing circuit but cleverly let them stay away to take away the important bonus seconds.

Eiking made a final attack on the climb to the line to finish two seconds ahead of Hermans but the veteran Belgian hung on to win overall by two seconds. Victor Lafay (Cofidis) finished third overall at six seconds after also impressing on Saturday.

Fredrik Dversnes (Team Coop) won the mountains competition and won the special prize of 500kg of Norwegian salmon.

Hermans was initially unsure of overall victory and lost out in 2016 on the final stage but could finally celebrate with his teammates on the podium this time.

"Sometimes you're the nail and today I was the hammer," Hermans said prophetically.

"It's a nice one to add to the list. It's one of the Pro Series races, it's the only WorldTour win I still miss. I'm really happy with this win. I didn't come here for anything less. I'm happy I could finish it off."

Hermans only lost control of his destiny when Eiking made his powerful late attack. 

"It was really under control until we hit the finishing laps. The first was still okay and it was all about positioning before the last climb. The team kept me in front and the guys did a perfect job controlling the race before, not pulling too hard and not closing the gap.

"We were lucky three guys from the break were still in front so I only had to match Lafay and Eiking in the final sprint. I got gapped by Eiking, I couldn't match his explosive attack actually. Luck was on my side and the time gap was only two seconds and not four." 

"I still remember this disappointment of six years ago when I lost everything in the last stage but now finally we can celebrate a win."

Hermans turned 35 in June and his current contract with Israel Start-Up Nation ends this year but he wants to keep racing.   

"All my career I've been at the same level from my first year pro until now. If I'm 13 years on the same level I can continue. Of course I want to sign for two years and then we'll see," he said. 

Walsleben collapsed on the grass after going deep to chase down Terpstra's late charge and win the stage. He and Terpstra were in the nine-rider break of the day and fought to stay away on the hilly finishing circuit that covered three times.

Erik Nordsaeter Resell (Uno-X Pro Cycling), Aimé De Gendt (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Thomas Champion (Cofidis), Ceriel Desal (Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB), Tore Andre Vabø (Team Coop), Alexandre Delettre and Eduard-Michael Grosu (Delko) were also in the move but were distanced as the Novkollen climb hurt on each circuit.

Terpstra tried to ride smart in the final kilometres and then attacked first with 200 metres to go but Walsleben was stronger on the climb and came around him to win. Due to injury and illness, Terpstra has not won a race since his 2018 Tour of Flanders victory.

33-year-old Walsleben announced his retirement a few days ago but admitted he may now reconsider his decision.

"It could be a very special victory because my plans were to stop pro cycling next year. I don't know if I will reconsider it," Walsleben said.

"It's still a lot of work that goes into this victory and a lot of suffering, so I don't know. Obviously, I'm still pretty good but I made a decision."

Walsleben is known as a cyclo-cross rider but won a stage at the Boucles de la Mayenne stage race in France in May.

"I'm very satisfied - it was really hard. We made it a hard race today and when I'm in such a group I start thinking about the stage victory. In the end, it was a lot of suffering. I was a bit surprised I was the strongest but of course I'm happy," Walsleben explained.

"It's hard to deal with [Terpstra] because he's very strong but he's very heavy so normally I must be better uphill. But Terpstra is still Terpstra, so you never know.

"He didn't want to pull in the last kilometres so that made it even harder. But I had the impression I was stronger in the uphill so I had to keep the pace high on the uphill and wait for him to go and I could make it a perfect sprint."