Tour of Norway 2025 Stage 3

May 29, 2025 If yesterday's finale wasn't lumpy enough, today's it is turned up a notch and could be the decider of the final GC. It's a short day at just 142KM but there are eight climbs, six of which are categorized, that total 2,500M of elevation. There is a 30KM finishing circuit where the riders will take on the last climb of Heja once on each lap. It is 2.4KM long at 7.8% and is sure to be a puncheur's delight. The weather continued to improve and sun was shining brightly at the start in Jørpeland. Five riders got up the road at the start but only three remained when live coverage began with 92KM to go. The group consisted of Jonas Gregaard of Lotto, Dylan Vandenstorme of Flanders-Baloise, and Joshua Gudnitz of ColoQuick and they had just 90 seconds over the Hjelmeland climb with 72.5KM to go. UAE-XRG had brought the gap down almost 2 minutes on the climb but the race continued in a holding pattern with Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe and Visma-Lease a Bike pitching in on the chase. A rush of pace came on with 41KM to go to get into position for a hard right turn away from Bjørnstadvatnet lake to take on the climb up to Heggheim, 1.3KM at over 9%. Jelle Johannink of Unibet Tietema attacked near the bottom and swept up the break. By the top, he had just 15 seconds over the peloton. The bunch settled down which allowed Johannink to increase his gap out to 1 minute 20 seconds. The peloton switched back on through the Intermediate Sprint in Tau with 27KM to go. The speed continued to rise because the first ascent of Heja was right around the corner. Uno-X Mobility led the group on to the climb just 40 seconds behind Johannink but UAE-XRG took over and put on a hard pace with Vegard Stake Laengen. Mikkel Bjerg took over but it was not fast enough to dissuade attacking because Guillermo Juan Martinez of Picnic-PostNL went off the front like a rocket. He passed Johannink right before the top and did a full post-up celebration as he crossed the line, not realizing he had another lap to go. He swallowed the embarrassment and continued the attack but was caught shortly after with 20KM to go. Bjerg continued to push and carry the bunch until 4KM to go when the drag race for the bottom of climb started once again. There was very little organization after the left turn on to the climb but Alessandro Covi of UAE-XRG got control and ramped up the pace with 2KM to go. The bunch split and the front group was down to Covi and his teammate Jan Christen, Matthew Brennan of Visma-Lease a Bike, Gal Glivar of Alpecin-Deceuninck, Maxim Van Gils of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, and Victor Langellotti of Ineos. When Covi pulled off, Christen made a half hearted attack but backed off, leaving the group to look around at each other. Ådne Holter of Uno-X Mobility bridged up to the group and immediately went to the front. Covi also came back to take over the pace making but with 500M to go, Christen made his main attack. Brennan and Van Gils were on him and the three were side by side from 300M to 150M to the line. Brennan opened his sprint and looked like he would take the win but the road dragged up just enough for Van Gils to pip Brennan on the line for the win. Langellotti came in third on the same time. With the bonus seconds, Brennan extended his lead to 18 seconds over Langellotti and 29 seconds to Christen who moved into third place after his efforts today.