Arctic Race of Norway 2025 Stage 3

August 9, 2025 The GC should be decided today but the problem for the pure climbers is that there is very little softening up before the hill top finish in Målselv. After leaving Husøy, there are three categorized climbs, all under 3KM and average about 6% with the exception of the first which is at 10%. The third, the Gangskarberget, tops out nearly 110KM from the base of the final climb, after which the route heads predominantly South, over a bridge and across the Solbergfjorden towards yesterday's finish in Sørreisa. The roads are mostly flat leading in to the climb and there should be a major fight for position because the hill is just 3.7KM long at 8% which is not much time to make gaps in GC or close down the leaders if out of position. The weather couldn't have been more spectacular with temperatures around 17C (63F) and perfectly clear skies. The start was given right at the bottom of the Husøy summit, a 2.3KM climb at nearly 10%. The road went straight up out of town and provided stunning views across the water and over to distant mountains. Storm Ingebrigtsen of Coop-Repsol led all the way up with Morthen Wang Baksaas and Sebastian Veslum of the Norwegian National Team and Georg Rydningen Martinsen of Lillehammer CK following behind. At the top, there was not only the mountains points that Ingebrigtsen needed for the jersey but also 100KG of salmon. Ingebrigtsen spent a lot of energy on the front and when Wang Baksaas jumped, he comfortably went over the top first to collect the points and the salmon. Through the intermediate sprint in Mefjordbotneidet, the gap was sitting at 2 minutes 30 seconds as Q36.5 were controlling the in the peloton. There was severe discord in the break with Rydningen Martinsen and Ingebrigtsen teaming up to get rid of either Wang Baksaas or Veslum. They had a long way to go and decided to settle down and work together. When they arrived at the second classified climb at Bergsbotn with 128KM to go, their lead was up to 4 minutes 30 seconds. Try as he might, Ingebrigtsen could not shake Wang Baksaas and in the sprint at the top, Wang Baksaas got the maximum points on a bike throw. He now moves within a handful of points behind Ingebrigtsen for the mountains classification. The final climb of the Gangskarberget arrived with 116KM to go and the battle for the points was rekindled. Wang Baksaas and Ingebrigtsen were evenly matched up to this point. Veslum set the pace to force a head to head sprint but at the top, Ingebrigtsen was beaten handily by both Wang Baksaas and Veslum. Wang Baksaas pulled within a single point of Ingebrigtsen with plenty of points up for grabs tomorrow. Everything settled back into a controlling pattern as the race passed along the lakeside roads and many red fishing huts. Frederik Frison of Q36.5 set the pace, a job he did for nearly the entire day. Veslum went on the attack as the peloton was within 30 seconds at 17KM to go but he was caught a few kilometers later as the bunch charged towards the base of the climb to the finish. XDS-Astana led into the climb with 3.7KM to go and handed over to Q36.5 one kilometer later. The bunch was stretching longer and longer under the pressure of Mark Donovan. The elastic snapped around 20 wheels back with 1,800M to go but the pace came off slightly as Israel-Premier Tech set a controlling pace. Tom Pidcock of Q36.5 was the first to move at 1,200M. Corbin Strong of Israel-Premier Tech was outstanding and was the only one to match the acceleration. The gradient eased with 700M to go but Pidcock never looked back. The road kicked back up for the last 300M and Pidcock stomped on the pedals again. Strong had him matched and with 200M to go, started to make his move for the line. The pair were side by side with 50M to go but Pidcock had just that little bit more and took the win by half a bike length. Christian Scaroni of XDS-Astana came in 12 seconds later for third on the day. Strong holds on to the race lead by 6 seconds now to Pidcock and 23 seconds back to Scaroni.