Strong easily fends off Pidcock's attack and secures overall victory in the Arctic Race of Norway, Dversnes wins last stage

What a thrill we were in for in the final stage of the Arctic Race of Norway! Tom Pidcock, as expected, took the victory on top of the challenging Malselv climb. But surprisingly, GC leader Corbin Strong was able to keep up with the Brit from Q36.5. So the New Zealander retained the yellow jersey, albeit by a slim margin: he had only 6 seconds left, and the stage around Tromsø was extremely difficult.

Early in the race, things got nasty: the riders had to climb the Prestvannet climb no fewer than eight times. A group of eight riders broke away. These were not just any names: Davide Ballerini (XDS-Astana), Adne Holter (Uno-X Mobility), Bjorn Koerdt (Picnic PostNL), Asbjørn Hellemose (Jayco-AlUla), Mattéo Vercher (TotalEnergies), Jonas Geens (Flanders-Baloise), Diego Uriarte (Equipo Kern Pharma), and Ulrik Tvedt (Lillehammer) took the lead. With Koerdt, Holter, and Verchér, there were three riders within a minute of the leader: a dangerous situation!

An additional dangerous factor was the weather, as it rained heavily at times. Israel - Premier Tech kept them close, as they didn't want to give the risky breakaway more than a minute and a half. When would the final battle begin? The answer came about 50 kilometers before the finish, when Picnic PostNL made a move. Kevin Vermaerke couldn't get away, but the organization was completely disrupted.

A little later, it was Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-AlUla) who managed to break away together with Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility). They joined the leaders, but the peloton had picked up speed again. On a new passage of the Prestvannet, it was Pidcock who went for it. He attacked, but couldn't get away. The peloton thinned out to only about 30 riders. He also managed to take a second off the Kiwi's lead in an intermediate sprint.

There was a deadlock for a moment, which Hugo de la Calle (Burgos Burpellet BH) and Stefano Oldani (Cofidis) took advantage of. The pair gained a lead of about 25 seconds, but in the peloton, Uno-X took responsibility for not letting them get too far ahead. It became clear that if anyone wanted to take the leader's jersey from Strong, it would have to happen in the final stage. Once again, it was Picnic who was aggressive: after catching up with the leaders, trainee Timo de Jong made his move.

The 26-year-old Dutchman, who rides typically for VolkerWessels, accelerated but couldn't get away. Marcel Camprubí did: the Spaniard riding for Pidcock opened up a nice gap. However, he was also caught on the final climb. Could anyone still make it difficult for Strong? Not Pidcock: he didn't have the legs. An attack by Leknessund also failed, after which it came down to a sprint, which Dversnes surprisingly won.