Ladies Tour of Norway: Faulkner wins stage 1

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Kristen Faulkner (Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank) has won stage 1 of the Ladies Tour of Norway, taking the first UCI Women's WorldTour victory of her career. 

The 28-year-old was part of a breakaway of five riders that got away with 100 kilometres to go, and on the finishing laps, Faulkner went solo and held off the peloton, crossing the line just a bike length ahead of Susanne Andersen (Team DSM) and Alice Barnes (Canyon-SRAM) who sprinted to second and third.

Due to time bonifications, Faulkner leads the general classification by four seconds on Andersen and six seconds on Barnes.

"It was really close! I didn't know how far they were behind, but it didn't matter because I was going all-out. I knew the gap was one minute with two laps to go and 30 seconds with one lap to go, and I was like, 'with this pace, they'll catch me at the line, so I have to pick it up!'

"This is my first WorldTour win, so it is the biggest win of my career, and it was with a lot of support from my teammates," said Faulkner who only started racing professionally in September 2020.

"We thought it would be a bunch sprint at the finish, so my director told me to get in a break and go for the QOMs. The break stuck, and in the end, when the break blew up, I had a little bit left in me, so I gave it what I could. I am normally not good in technical finishes, so this was my only chance, and I went for it. I only started to believe in the win about two metres from the finish line," Faulkner laughed.

How it unfolded

The first stage started in Halden, the hometown of the Ladies Tour of Norway, and took the peloton inland from the coast over the rolling hills of Østfold before finishing in the coastal town of Sarpsborg where three laps of a 6.7-kilometre finishing circuit brought the total distance to 141.5 kilometres.

Anna Christian (Drops-Le Col s/b Tempur), Natalie van Gogh (Bingoal Casino-Chevalmeire), and Nina Buysman (Parkhotel Valkenburg) got away soon after the first intermediate sprint 31 km into the race and were joined by Faulkner and Tiril Jørgensen (Norway). The five escapees built an advantage of up to 4:30 minutes, and Ann Helen Olsen (Team Coop-Hitec Products) went off the front of the peloton in the second half of the race.

As they neared the finishing circuit, the peloton reeled in Olsen and continued to reduce the gap to the break which fell apart on the first time up the rising finishing straight. Faulkner left her breakmates behind and entered the three laps with a 20-second gap on the peloton.

Faulkner increased her advantage again to a minute with two laps to go and had 30 seconds left as she started the final lap. In the peloton, there was a crash with two kilometres to go that took down several riders, a.o. Marta Cavalli (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope), Leah Thomas (Movistar Team), Mikayla Harvey (Canyon-SRAM), Elena Cecchini, and Christine Majerus (both Team SD Worx).

Faulkner continued undeterred and held off Andersen by one bikelength to win the stage and take the overall lead. Buysman will wear the QOM jersey on stage 2.