Arctic Race of Norway 2025 Stage 1

August 7, 2025 The Arctic Race of Norway is one of the most visually stunning races all year. The stages all take place among the islands and the fjords which means heavy rolling roads for the peloton. The opening stage from Borkenes to Harstad is made up of two different laps, a 75KM lap to start then two times around a smaller lap to make 184KM of racing. There are two distinct climbs, the Storjorda (1.5KM at 6.9%) and the Sollia (1.8KM at 4.2%). Storjorda is the first, second, and fourth climb on the day, the last ascent coming 30KM from the finish with lumps the entire way to the line. The last 500M slowly ramps up and is quite difficult which should make for a reduced sprint in the finale. Unfortunately the rain was coming down when the flag dropped in Borkenes. Scenes looked more like a Norther European race in February rather than August but it didn't dampen the spirit as six riders got up the road including Fredrik Dversnes of Uno-X Mobility, Romain Combaud of Picnic-PostNL, Abram Stockman of Unibet-Tietema Rockets, Vetle Torin Eskedal of the Norwegian National Team, Storm Ingebrigtsen of Coop-Repsol, and Georg Rydningen Martinsen of Lillehammer CK. The strong break was not given a lot of time and with 68KM to go, the gap was hovering around 1 minute. Israel-Permier Tech and XDS-Astana were sharing the pace-making as they approached the Sollia with rain still coming down and sleet mixed in as well. Ingebrigtsen took the points on top with 51KM to go and with other points scored throughout the day, he was set to wear the mountains jersey tomorrow for Stage 2. The gap was whittled away by Equipo Kern Pharma and the catch was made with 30KM to go at the top of the Storjorda, the final classified climb, but not before Ingebrigtsen took the points to add to his tally. Equipo Kern Pharma continued to ride quite hard and in an interesting move, they sent Mats Wenzel up the road with 18KM to go. He dangled off the front with 5 seconds for a few kilometers but was caught as teams gathered themselves and pushed to the front to keep position coming into the last 10KM. Even with wet roads, the speed was rapid. A small rise in the road gave an opportunity to attack and Yentl Vandevelde of Flanders-Baloise, Sven Erik Bystrøm of the Norwegian National Team, and Eirik Vang Aas of Coop-Repsol went away. It was a doomed move though because the peloton was fully intact with plenty of resources still available for the lead outs. The catch was made at 4KM remaining with Tudor Pro Cycling driving the pace. XDS-Astana took control under 2KM to go as the road started its rise to the finish. They were challenged by Israel-Premier Tech won the corner under 1KM to go. Tom Van Asbroeck led Corbin Strong into the final 400M. The first to sprint was Karsten Larsen Feldmann of Coop-Repsol at 225M but it was too far uphill to hold the speed. Strong came out of his wheel with teammate Riley Sheehan behind. The pair stomped up the final meters and took first and second for Israel-Premier Tech. Rasmus Tiller of Uno-X Mobility was next across the line to take third on the stage.