Visma talent Nordhagen excited for Tour de l’Avenir test: "I’ve been used to doing double days from when I was skiing"

The Norwegian already finished thirteenth in this year's Tour de Romandie at WorldTour level, but also finished fourth in the Giro Next Gen. “If you can step up and win on the WorldTour right away, that’s nice, but for me it’s important to also race against competitors on my own account.”

“In a race like l’Avenir, I can further develop my leadership skills and hopefully race for the win, which is important for the future. There are still bigger favorites than me here, but I can start with the ambition of really being in the mix for a top-5 or even a podium result.”

“This year I’ve recovered really well in stage races. In the Giro Next Gen my power was actually higher on the last stages, and the same happened in Romandie. At least it doesn’t look like I get worse within a week, so that’s good – also for the future,” said the top talent.

Nordhagen finished sixth in the prologue, which gives him high hopes for the tougher stages at the end of the stage race. There are even two mountain stages – a road race and a time trial – on the same day. “I quite like the idea of a double stage with a time trial in the afternoon, because I’ve been used to doing double days from when I was skiing, and I still do them sometimes on the bike. But of course, if you’re super tired after the mountain stage, you’ll feel it in the time trial.”