Kelderman and Tulett crash can’t spoil the mood at Visma | Lease a Bike, who celebrate ‘wonderkid’ Nordhagen

On Jebel Hafeet, the race quickly thinned out, with Isaac del Toro and Antonio Tiberi jumping clear of their rivals. The Mexican ultimately proved the strongest by far, but Nordhagen held his own impressively in the chasing group. At the finish, he even showed he still had something left: Nordhagen sprinted to sixth on the stage.

Thanks to his strong ride on the final mountain day of the WorldTour stage race, the 21-year-old climber moved up to eighth overall, with only a flat finale still to come. For Nordhagen, that makes this first real test of the season more than a success. “I’m extremely satisfied with this performance,” he said on the team website.

Nordhagen may not have much experience at this level, but he kept a cool head on the tough climb. “It was my first time riding up Jebel Hafeet, so I held back a little at the start. From the foot it was full gas, but I felt I had good legs today. I couldn’t respond to Del Toro’s accelerations, so I decided to ride my own tempo. In the end, that was the right decision to finish in the top ten again.”

The Norwegian finished ahead of established names such as Derek Gee (seventh), David Gaudu (ninth), Michael Storer (tenth) and Remco Evenepoel (15th). And after Ilan Van Wilder literally went down on the final climb, Nordhagen moved up another place in the general classification. “I never dared hope I’d finish top ten here,” he said, delighted.

It wasn’t all perfect for Visma | Lease a Bike, as Wilco Kelderman and Ben Tulett crashed not far before the foot of Jebel Hafeet, meaning they couldn’t continue their planned work for the team on the climb. The good news: both were able to continue, according to the team. And it didn’t spoil the day, because Nordhagen’s result is an encouraging sign.

“I don’t have a lot of experience at this level yet, so I’m happy I could show myself here among all these big names,” he added. “This winter I already felt I’d taken another step, so it’s great to see that reflected in the results. Eighth overall exceeds my expectations, so I want to thank my team-mates for their support today.”