One day to go
August 14 th 2019 - 17:03
- In its seventh edition, the Arctic Race of Norway is back to the Lofoten islands that made a big impact in the inaugural event.
- Mathieu van der Poel is the star cyclist of the race, having won the cyclo-cross world championship, the Amstel Gold Race and the European championship for mountain-biking this year.
- French national champion Warren Barguil and Kazakhstan national champion Alexey Lutsenko are among the top favourites for the overall classification.
Back to the Lofoten islands
The seventh Arctic Race of Norway is back to the Lofoten archipelago for the first time since the inception of the event in 2013, Å being the starting venue of stage 1 tomorrow. Stage 2 in the inaugural edition started and finished in Svolvær, which will be the finish location of stage 2 again, and the winner was… Thor Hushovd who has been the race ambassador since the very beginning. “It remains a great memory”, said Hushovd who was also the first GC winner. “I had never been to the north of Norway before and that was the best way to discover this part of my country. Now, thanks to the Arctic Race, I’m used to come this far north. The course this year is very hard. I believe it suits a pure climber like Warren Barguil who has been the King of the Mountains at the Tour de France two years ago and made the top 10 again this year. He’s clearly one of the favourites.”
Mathieu van der Poel: “I’m here for the sprints”
Crowned world champion for cyclo-cross at the beginning of the year, Mathieu van der Poel had his most successful road season so far as he won six races in Spring including the Amstel Gold Race, which was his last road race before he returned to Norway. In the meantime, he became European champion for MTB. “Overall, I think the Arctic Race of Norway is a little bit too hard for me”, Van der Poel commented on the eve of stage 1. “The climbing was already a bit too hard for me last year and from what I’ve seen, it’s even harder this year, so it’s not really an objective for me to win the overall classification but I’ll certainly try to win a stage or two again when it comes to bunch sprints and then I’ll position my team-mates who are more prepared than me for climbing. The level of the field seems to be higher than last year. I’ve focused on mountain-biking recently. It’s gonna be a choc for the body. Physically, I’m not used to be on the bike for that long anymore, so I’m here firstly to get endurance and road bike racing again. It’s a really nice race. Norway is a beautiful country. I enjoyed it a lot last year and I want to enjoy it again.”
Warren Barguil: “I come back for winning”
A regular fisherman himself in his native Brittany when he’s not on the bike, French national champion Warren Barguil found himself in his natural habitat on the sea shores of Svolvær. “I had bad luck last year, that’s why I wanted to come back to the Arctic Race of Norway”, he explained. “One year ago, I thought I had good legs but I blew up in the crosswinds and I was very disappointed that I had to abandon. I’m avid for a revenge. I’m in a good shape. I’d like to win but it’s different from other races because it’s mostly one climb that should make the overall result and at this time of the year, many riders have a chance to win. I’ve looked at the climb [Storheia summit] online. It seems very steep. Sometimes when it’s too steep, it’s harder to drop the other riders but I’d definitely like to win here.”
Alexey Lutsenko to make his debut at the Arctic Race of Norway
After going out on a boat for a sea eagle watching experience on the pre-race media day, Kazakhstan national champion and Tour of Oman winner Alexey Lutsenko declared: “This was one of the nicest press conferences I’ve ever done! It’s my first time at the Arctic Race of Norway and I was really looking forward to taking part in this event after watching it on TV in previous years. It’s a beautiful race. I’m a bit unsure of my condition after the Tour but I came here for a good result and to start my preparation for the world championship. I’d like to win and I believe the overall classification will be decided on stage 3. Maybe [Storheia summit] is a bit steep for me but I’ll go for the best result I can get.” His Astana team are the defending champions as they won the 2018 Arctic Race of Norway with Sergey Chernetskiy. They also won it in 2015 with Rein Taaramäe who is the only former overall victor in contention and once again a favourite, now racing for Total Direct Energie.