Vos wins 2018 Ladies Tour of Norway

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Marianne Vos (WaowDeals) showed her class once again, winning the finale stage 3 of the 2018 Ladies Tour of Norway. After a hectic final 20km with lots of attacks on the finishing circuit in Halden, Vos was the best in the sprint, beating Coryn Rivera (Team Sunweb) and Emilia Fahlin (Wiggle High5).

With three stage wins, Vos also won the overall classification, ahead of Fahlin and Rivera.

The neutral start of stage 3 was held on the Svinesund bridge at the border between Sweden and Norway. The first intermediate sprint came in Sweden after 16.6km, as did the first mountain sprint at km 31.1. Back in Norway, the second and final mountain sprint came after 59km, followed by another crossing into Sweden and a seven-kilometre uphill gravel section.

The feed zone came just after the halfway point of the 153.9km stage, and a special sprint (without bonus seconds) celebrated the final border crossing into Norway with 56.4km left to go. After climbing to the Fredriksten fortress overlooking Halden, almost four laps on a finishing circuit of 5.2km remained. Narrow roads, many turns, two bridges, an underpass and a slightly uphill cobblestone section made the circuit very technical and promised action. The finish line was in a sweeping left-hand turn on a two-lane street, and the second intermediate sprint was held with three laps to go.

Christine Majerus (Boels Dolmans) won the first intermediate sprint ahead of Coryn Rivera and Marianne Vos. After a short-lived break of four, Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) attacked to win the first mountain sprint. A break of seven went away after Niewiadoma had sat up.

Lourdes Oyarbide (Movistar Team), Anna Christian (Trek-Drops), Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Valcar PBM), Sara Penton (Team Virtu Cycling), Silvia Valsecchi (BePink), Ane Santesteban (Alé Cipollini), and Sara Olsson (Swedish National Team) built an advantage of up to 3:25 minutes, but had only 1:10 minutes left after the gravel section where Team Sunweb and Boels Dolmans pushed the pace in the peloton.

The break was caught just before the border sprint that was won by Christina Siggaard (Team Virtu Cycling), and then the attacks started again. Julie van de Velde (Lotto Soudal Ladies) briefly enjoyed a 17-second advantage, later Soraya Paladin (Alé Cipollini) was half a minute ahead of the peloton, with Rachel Neylan (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) chasing in between.

First Neylan, then Paladin were caught before the climb to the fortress of Fredriksten. The peloton broke into two groups on the fast descent into Halden, and 37 riders remained to contest the finishing circuit. The second intermediate sprint was won by Fahlin ahead of Majerus and Rivera, and the final 15 kilometres were raced with the group strung out in single file.

Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) attacked through a difficult corner with 14.6km to go and was followed by Vos, Majerus, and Niewiadoma, but after Lucinda Brand (Team Sunweb) bridged on the cobbles, the group was brought back. Gracie Elvin (Mitchelton-Scott) immediately counter-attacked and held a gap of 15 seconds until Brand and Vos came up to her just after the cobblestone section and Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle High5) closed them down.

Van Vleuten tried to get away again, then it was Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott), Malgorzata Jasinska (Movistar Team), and Amalie Dideriksen (Boels Dolmans) who briefly got a gap until Vos brought the peloton back. Van Vleuten accelerated another time, only to be reeled in by Dideriksen.

A move by Floortje Mackaij (Team Sunweb) was followed by Megan Guarnier (Boels Dolmans) and Vos before being closed down by Majerus, then Spratt attacked into the final lap, was followed by Dideriksen and reeled in again by Vos. An attack by van Vleuten got her and Niewiadoma, Vos, Majerus, and eventually Fahlin off the front, only to be chased down by Chloe Hosking (Alé Cipollini).

Brand went on the cobbles with three kilometres to go. She was joined by Vos and Majerus, but Longo Borghini brought the trio back. Van Vleuten tried one last time, then Brand again at the two-kilometre mark, both were reeled in by Vos. Now on wider roads, riders got ready to sprint, and Hannah Payton (Trek-Drops) and Dideriksen led the group onto the final kilometre.

Confalonieri opened the sprint 300 metres from the line, and Vos jumped into her wheel and accelerated out of the right-hander with 150 metres to go. Rivera and Fahlin tried to come past the Dutch race leader, but Vos was unbeatable and won with half a bike length on the US champion, with the Swedish champion in third.

Vos also won the overall classification, 22 seconds ahead of Fahlin and 33 seconds ahead of Rivera, as well as the points classification. Niewiadoma took home the polka-dot mountain jersey, Chiara Consonni (Valcar PBM) won the white jersey for the best U23 rider, and Susanne Andersen (Hitec Products-Birk Sport) was the best Norwegian rider.

Sofia Bertizzolo (Astana Women's Team) continues to lead the UCI Women's WorldTour U23 classification. Having led since the Flèche Wallonne Féminine, Anna van der Breggen lost the purple jersey for the overall UCI Women's WorldTour ranking, as Vos passed her thanks to a perfect race with three stages and the overall win.

The UCI Women's WorldTour continues with the GP Plouay on 25 August.

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