Strong brings the Midnight Sun jersey to New Zealand
August 10 th 2025 - 18:09 [GMT + 2]
The 2025 Arctic Race of Norway was drawn to a close this Sunday with an exciting final stage in the streets of Tromsø. The many attacks by the likes of Tom Pidcock (Q36.5), Kevin Vermaerke (Picnic-PostNL) or Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X) were not enough to dethrone Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) from the overall lead, and the Kiwi rider managed to still top the standings ahead of Pidcock and XDS-Astana’s Christian Scaroni after finishing second in the last stage to Uno-X’s Frederik Dversnes, who was the quickest in the final sprint. This is the first time that a rider from New Zealand wins the Arctic Race of Norway, making it the 10th nation to win the northernmost road cycling race in just 12 editions running. Besides the Midnight Sun jersey, Strong also took home the Points and the Young Rider classifications, as well as his victory in the first stage. As for the northern lights jersey for the winner of the KOM classification, it was claimed by Norwegian youngster Storm Ingebrigtsen (Coop-Repsol).
At 14:44, 105 riders took the start in the 4th and final stage of the 2025 Arctic Race of Norway. It was entirely held in the city of Tromsø over a course that consisted of eight laps to an urban circuit that included the sharp hill of Prestvannet (Cat 2), to total 135,3 kilometers of intense racing. An early intermediate sprint (km 7,9) saw Riley Sheehan (Israel-Premier Tech) claim three bonus seconds, while Christian Scaroni (XDS-Astana) and Felix Engelhardt (Jayco-AlUla) took two and one respectively. The first climb to Prestvannet (Cat 2, km 14,9) was first crested by Intermarché-Wanty’s Lorenzo Rota as attacks happened left and right and a slight rain turned the road wet and slippery, provoking crashes that forced riders like Equipo Kern Pharma’s Pau Miquel to withdraw from the race. It was at around kilometer 22 that Ådne Holter (Uno-X Mobility), Davide Ballerini (XDS-Astana), Asbjørn Hellemose (Jayco-AlUla), Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies), Jonas Geens (Flanders-Baloise) and Diego Uriarte (Equipo Kern Pharma) managed to go clear. Two more riders joined them in the second climb to Prestvannet (Cat 2, km 31): Bjorn Koerdt (Picnic-PostNL) and Ulrik Tvedt (Lillehammer CK). None of the men up the road was in the mix for the KOM classification, and that granted Storm Ingebrigtsen (Coop-Repsol) an easy ride to secure the northern lights jersey.
Moves by Vermaerke, Pidcock and Leknessund
Israel-Premier Tech duly committed to defend Corbin Strong’s Midnight Sun jersey, and kept the eight men at the front under a tight leash. The gap never went beyond the 1’30” timed atop the third climb to Prestvannet (Cat 2, km 47,1). It was on the fifth lap, under grey skies that didn’t threaten with rain anymore, that Picnic-PostNL hit the afterburners up Prestvannet (Cat 2, km 79,3) setting up an attack by Kevin Vermaerke. Although the American rider failed to jump clear, his move opened up the race for other riders high up in GC like Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) or Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X) to go on the offensive. Both would eventually join the head of the race at the sixth passage up Prestvannet (Cat 2, km 95,4), only for Israel-Premier Tech to quickly shut the breakaway down. A canny, well-timed attack made Ryan Gal (Picnic-PostNL) net three bonus seconds at the second intermediate sprint (km 104,5), with Strong and Pidcock taking two and one in a closely contested sprint to the line.
Dversnes claims a home win for Uno-X
Stefano Oldani (Cofidis) and Hugo de la Calle (Burgos BH) powered away from an already reduced peloton in the seventh climb to Prestvannet (Cat 2, km 111,5). They get overtaken by Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies) in view of the last intermediate sprint (km 127,6), where the Frenchman claims three bonus seconds before being reeled back in. Marcel Camprubí (Q36.5) tries his luck to be brought back with 7 kilometers to go. Riders like Dylan Teuns (Cofidis) also attacked, for a similar outcome. 30 riders rolled together under the red flag, preparing for the sprint that would settle the 2025 Arctic Race of Norway. The excellent lead-out from Israel-Premier Tech and Picnic-PostNL was upset by Uno-X’s Frederik Dversnes, who took the stage win with a powerful, 250-meter long kick that nobody could match.
