August 15, 2026
The GC guys have waited for two days and now it's their turn to shine for the first of two stages that will define the overall. The route for the first 110 km of the 146 km stage is a figure eight on Langøya island. The riders will be quite familiar with most of it because, for the third day in a row, they will climb to Storvatnet Summit, this time on two occasions in the first 55 km of the stage. The riders will then loop around the circumference of the island back to the start town of Stokmarknes before turning onto the Hadsel Bridge to cross to the island of Hadseløya. There is a Bonus Sprint on the other side followed by 25 flat kilometers to Melbu near the base of the final climb. The last 7 km are uphill but it's the last 3.4 km that are tough with the average gradient across that distance of nearly 11%. It will be an all out effort to the base of the climb for good positioning then the one that can buffer the lactic acid the best should win the day at the top of Storheia Summit.
Race Summary
The temperatures remained cool at just 14C (57F) but the rain abated over night and the riders signed-on with dry roads under them. Before the race got underway, a moment of silence was given to remember Finlay Tarling of the NSN Cycling Development Team who tragically passed away during the Volta a Portugal. The memory of the young rider was heavy on the minds of all as the riders strapped their helmets on and rolled out into the neutral zone. Before the flag was waived, a bit of rain fell making the roads slick with moisture and that much colder. It only took 3 km of racing before the elastic snapped and five riders got away. In the group was Morthen Wang Baksaas and Finnish Champion Axel Källberg of Lucky Sport, Eirik Vang Aas of Drali-Repsol, Thomas Eriksen of Lillehammer CK, and Aksel Laforce of Ringerike.
When the gap reached 1 minute 20 seconds, Pinarello Q36.5 picked up the chase, mostly just to stay warm in the wet and cold conditions. The break arrived at the Storvatnet climb for a showdown between Baksaas and Vang Aas for the mountains points. Källberg kept the pace high on the climb until 200 meters to go when Baksaas launched. Vang Aas responded and came level at 80 meters and both threw their bikes at the line for what was a veritable tie in real time. Vang Aas was awarded the points to bring him within 2 points of Baksaas for the KOM jersey. The road tipped down and the break started the descent 1 minute 45 seconds ahead of the bunch.
Modern Adventure put a man up with Pinarello Q36.5 for the chase and had the gap well controlled at 1 minute 35 seconds by the base of the Storvatnet for the second time. Lucky Sport played a different tactic this time by sending Källberg on the attack early, forcing Vang Aas to cover. Vang Aas quickly realized that he didn't need to chase down Källberg, all he needed was to finish ahead of Baksaas in order to close his 2 point deficit. Källberg took the 3 points but unfortunately the camera followed the Finn and we only got a still image of the line when Vang Aas and Baksaas lunged for the remaining points. Once again, it was incredibly close but Vang Aas got to the line first to close the gap to just one point for the KOM lead.
The break turned South for the long trip towards Stockmarknes but they were without Vang Aas who pulled the plug to save energy for tomorrow's final battle for the KOM jersey. Baksaas did the same moments later leaving just three out front with a reduced margin of just 50 seconds. The road twisted along the rocky shores with craggy peaks rising directly from the water forming sheer cliffs on the riders' left side. With 40 km to go, the break arrived at the Hadsel Bridge with 1 minute 40 seconds in hand. They scaled the steep side of the bridge before following the arc and drifting downwards to the opposite shore.
With only three riders left in the break, no bonus seconds were available for the peloton which rendered the sprint unimpactful given the GC position of the three riders in the break. Källberg rolled through uncontested 1 minute in front of the Modern Adventure/Pinarello Q36.5 led peloton. The situation remained unchanged with the exception of the gap which ticked down second by second. Coming into 10 km to go, Modern Adventure owned the right side of the road, Pinarello Q36.5 bossed the right side, and Jayco AlUla and XDS-Astana were left to battle in the center. 2 km later, Källberg went solo from his break away companions as NSN Cycling hit the front to gain position for a tight left bend on the approach to the climb.
The road immediately started to rise after the turn and the finish was in sight at the summit, marked by a radio tower that stood upon it. Lotto Intermarché and Picnic-PostNL Raisin joined NSN Cycling at the front to take up the rest of the space on the road. Källberg was finally caught with 4.5 km to go by the tightly packed peloton as the road continued to narrow to no more than a single car width. The bunch hit the base of Storheia like a wall and immediately lost all momentum. Thomas Gachignard of TotalEnergies emerged as the most enthusiastic rider in the lower slopes. Gachignard continued to pull up the 13% gradients with an ever decreasing peloton behind him. Directly behind Gachignard was Robbe Dhondt of Picnic-PostNL Raisin, Alessandro Pinarello of NSN Cycling, Lennert Van Eetvelt of Lotto Intermarché, Fabio Christen of Pinarello Q36.5, and Joris Delbove of TotalEnergies.
At 2 km to go, Gachignard had pulled off and Bert Bolle of Picnic-PostNL Raisin took over with Dhondt sitting in second wheel. Around 30 riders were still connected when Christen made a dig at 1,600 meters. He stretched the group but it didn't break so Bolle went back to the front to set his pace. Bolle did a phenomenal ride and was still pulling at the flamme rouge with only nine riders on his wheel. In the group still was Dhondt, Christen, Van Eetvelt, Pinarello, German Champion Felix Engelhardt of Jayco AlUla, Wout Poels of Unibet Rose Rockets, Guillermo Thomas Silva of XDS-Astana, and Delbove and Thomas Bonnet of TotalEnergies. Bolle pulled off with 800 meters to go but no one wanted to risk going too early with the brutal gradients of 15% still ahead. Sebastian Berwick of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA was able to join the group and more were inching closer just behind. Berwick went to the front to ride his pace until 350 meters to go when Van Eetvelt launched his bid for victory. Immediately on the wheel was Silva and Dhondt while it took a bit longer for Pinarello to join. Van Eetvelt continued his effort on the front but was countered by Silva who got a gap on the Belgian. It was at least 10 bike lengths at 150 meters to go but Van Eetvelt gained a second wind and was sprinting towards the line. Silva was tying up and it was a slow motion finish with Silva hitting the line first by only half a bike length to Van Eetvelt. Pinarello was next across for third at 9 seconds with Dhondt on the same time in fourth after a break out ride from the young Belgian.
Silva takes over the race lead by 10 seconds to Van Eetvelt and 21 seconds to Pinarello with one more crucial uphill finish to come.