Arctic Race of Norway 2025 Stage 4

August 10, 2025 The final day around Tromsø is short but should be explosive. The 141KM stage is comprised of eight 16.5KM laps with two climbs on each lap. The first is Th Øiens Gate which is 800M at 8%, the second is Prestvannet, a 1.2KM climb at nearly 7%. The last time up Prestvannet comes just 7KM from the finish. The punchy nature of the course should produce great racing, especially because the GC is close enough for some to still dream. Once the flag dropped, the fight for the break went on and on. A group finally got away with 107KM to go that included Davide Ballerini of XDS-Astana, Ådne Holter of Uno-X Mobility, Diego Uriarte of Equipo Kern Pharma, Jonas Geens of Flanders-Baloise, Asbjørn Hellemose of Jayco AlUla, and Mattéo Vercher of TotalEnergies. Picnic-PostNL missed the move after trying a number of times earlier in the stage. They quickly got organized and shot Bjorn Koerdt off the front who was able to bridge up to the break, bringing Ulrik Tvedt of Lillehammer CK for company. Israel-Premier Tech went to the front of the peloton and when the break went through the line for 6 laps (96.5KM) to go, the gap had been built to 1 minute 15 seconds. The race remained in a holding pattern until 56KM to go when Picnic-PostNL lit up the peloton on the Prestvannet climb and the gap came down to 35 seconds. They didn't have the resources to continue driving the pace but they didn't need to because it opened up the race to more attacking. No one was able to get away and calm was restored with 49KM to go going into 3 laps to go. Eddie Dunbar of Jayco AlUla took a flyer on the Th Øiens Gate and was joined by Andreas Leknessund of Uno-X Mobility at the top. They established a nice gap and Israel-Premier Tech were forced to ride harder in the peloton because Leknessund started the day 42 seconds down on Corbin Strong in GC. Leknessund and Dunbar bridged to the breakaway with 42KM to go. The gap was only 20 seconds and when they hit the Prestvannet climb, Tom Pidcock of Q36.5 put in a full effort which split the peloton and caught the break all in one motion. Only about 25 riders were left at the front of the race with 39KM to go and Pidcock was intent on making the race as hard as possible but once again, Israel-Premier Tech had enough men to settle the race and the group was together with 24KM to go. Stefano Oldani of Cofidis followed an attack by Hugo de la Calle of Burgos-Burpellet BH on the Prestvannet climb on the penultimate lap. The two leaders took the bell for the final lap with 15 seconds on the peloton which had grown slightly to around 30 riders. Attacks came from the peloton as soon as the Th Øiens Gate climb started. Vercher was at it again but Kevin Vermaerke of Picnic-PostNL went over the top, dropped Vercher and was alone in the front. When Vermaerke was caught, Marcel Camprubí of Q36.5 tried his hand and the indefatigable Vercher went in pursuit. They were not able to get together and, near the top of Prestvannet for the final time, they both were caught. The group was ragged on the run in but Israel-Premier Tech kept it together for a sprint of 30 riders. Inside 400M, Picnic-PostNL tried to set it up for Vermaerke but he got boxed in. Vercher was the first to open up the sprint with around 275M to go. Strong came through on Vercher's inside at 200M but Fredrik Dversnes of Uno-X Mobility came with speed from behind on the left side of the road and had a jump on everyone else. Ballerini got on Dversnes's wheel but it was too late because the Norwegian hit the finish line first to give Uno-X Mobility their second win of the week. Strong was able to nip Ballerini on the line for second place, pushing the Italian to third. Pidcock tried to break Strong but the New Zealander was resilient and took the overall classification by 11 seconds to the Brit. Christian Scaroni of XDS-Astana retained his third place, 28 seconds down.