Arctic Race of Norway: Corbin Strong holds off Tom Pidcock to win overall

Fredrik Dversenes (Uno-X Mobility) grabbed his second stage win at Arctic Race of Norway, this time in Tromsø on stage 4. On his wheel in second was race leader Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech), who secured the GC victory after a tactical battle for every second with Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling).

Davide Ballerini (XDS Astana) took third in the reduced group finish. Pidcock was sixth, and finished second on GC, 11 seconds back.

Ballerini's teammate Christian Scaroni remained third overall, 28 seconds down.

"It was an incredibly stressful day. I knew we were going to be under attack from kilometre zero, but I've exceeded my expectations, especially the first few laps in the rain," Strong said.

"The first few laps are even more out of control and harder than I expected. But my team was just incredible today. Those boys put it all on the line for me today.

"I thought I could do maybe a top five, maybe a podium on GC, if I had a really good ride. I was quietly confident. Yesterday exceeded my expectations. So to be in the yellow and finish it off with my teammates today is a really nice feeling."

Strong began the week with victory on stage 1 and held the yellow jersey for all four days of racing. Pidcock was his main adversary and his stage 3 win reduced Strong's margin to a slim four-second lead in the overall, with 23 seconds to third-placed Scaroni.

Strong heads home from Norway with the sprint and youth classification as well bumping US rider Riley Sheehan (Israel-Premier Tech), who was fourth overall in the final GC, to second in the young rider standings. Storm Ingebrigtsen (Team Coop-Repsol) won the mountains title.

The fourth and final day of racing at the Arctic Race of Norway featured started at sea level in Tromsø with a 16.1km circuit completed eight times for 135.3km. Eight laps meant eight ascents of the Prestvannet summit (1.2km at 6.8%) plus other rolling terrains to add up to 2,100 metres of elevation gain.

Attacks and counter-attacks seemed to be the game plan for many teams, and nothing stuck until 110km to go with eight going clear - Davide Ballerini (XDS Astana), Jonas Geens (Flanders-Baloise), Bjorn Koerdt (Picnic-PostNL), Asbjørn Hellemose (Jayco AlUla), Ånde Holter (Uno-X Mobility), Diego Uriarte (Equipo Kern Pharma), Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) and Ulrik Tvedt (Lillehammer CK Continental Team).

With 66km to go, the breakaway held a 1:25 gap, but the Q36.5 and Israel-Premier Tech teams began to push the peloton to reduce that time. With under 50km to race, that gap had been cut in half, and another 10km on there was no more breakaway.

As the regrouped riders charged into the final two circuits, the peloton was shredded. Pidcock moved to the front and attacked with Strong for bonus seconds at the top of the Prestvannet summit, the British rider taking one second from the New Zealander so that only five seconds separated the pair, with ten, six and four seconds awarded at the finish line.

Looking for a stage win, Hugo de la Calle (Burgos Burpellet BH) made an acceleration with 24km to go, followed by Stefano Oldani (Cofidis) and the duo gaining 10 seconds. They only grabbed a few more seconds but started the final 16.1km circuit with a lead of 16 seconds.

Across the final ascent of Prestvannet summit, the breakaway faded and it was full-on racing for the final 13 kilometres.

Marcel Camprubí of Q36.5 Pro took a flyer, with a reduced group of about 25 riders in pursuit, including Strong and Pidcock.

Other attacks in the final five kilometres went nowhere and so the final sprint would decide the overall race winner.

Strong proved he was strongest of the week with his second-place finish in the spring behind Dversenes. Pidcock was further back and out of the bonus seconds and so failed to snatch overall victory from Strong.

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