Rasmussen: We are here Bodø, for the Arctic Race of Norway, a new race started in 2013, as the name says it is held in the most northern parts of Norway. Bodø is a municipality of about 50.000 citizens. The current town is relative new, before 1850 is was just a village.
Houses in the Bodø area:
Although the area is within the Arctic Circle, there is evidence of Stone Age settlements 10-11.000 years ago. The area has several Iron Age burial sites, and the area is also mentioned is the Sagas as the home of a famous pagan sorcerer and Viking chief.
Bodø Cathedral, built in the 1950’s, after the old church was destroyed by a German bombing raid in 1940.
Pre-race strategy: We got some good sprinters in this race, would like some results from them, any of the stages could be won in a mass sprint. Bøchman or Aldegheri might attempt to get the KoM.
Profile:
Roster:
The morning break is 3 riders, none of them particularly dangerous.
On the hill right after the sprints, with about 120 km left Bøchman attacks.
The cat.3 climb is pretty steep, and Bøchman catches up to the weaker front group quite easily. Bøchman wins the mountain sprint. The group got about 5 min to the peloton.
But there is 75 km to go, and the group can’t hold out, with a little less than 10 km left, it’s time to set up the sprint trains.
The stage is won by Luke Rowe (Vondafone) over Bozic (Astana), Holst Enger takes the last spot on the podium.
Rasmussed: Great start, a podium finish and the mountain Jersey.
I missed the export, so this is a simplified result overview:
Rasmussen: The caravan has moved some 220 km north, ferry to Moskenes from there 120 km by road, for today’s start in Svolvær, a town of about 4500 people located on Lofoten archipelago.
The first known settlement in the Svolvær area is from the early Bronze Age. Historical records first mention Svolvær in the 1500’s as a royal estate.
Gunnar Berg: ”Fra Svolvær Havn” (from Svolvær harbour), 1891:
Pre-race strategy: Again today, we are looking for a result in the expected mass sprint.
Profile:
A strong morning break-away of 3 riders, with two strong fighters Romain Zingle (Cofidis) and Oskar Svendsen (Joker).
Svendsen take the intermediate sprint without any fighting.
But the peloton is getting close, and it seems the break will soon be over. Pacheco lights up our sprint train with the Spanish national colors.
Matti Breschel (Saxo – Tinkoff) wins the stage over Yauheni Hutarovich (AG2R) in a very narrow sprint. Our best is Sondre Holst Enger (6).
Rasmussen: Ok result, I guess we did what we could.
Rasmussen: The caravan has just 28 km north, from Stokmarknes to Sortland. We are still racing on Lofoten archipelago. Sortland is a municipality of about 10.000 people.
The first signs of humans in Sortland are burial mounds from the Iron Age. The first historical mention is a church in 1370. From the 1600’s trade was established between Sortland and the south, and Sortland became a local trade center.
Sortland Church (1902)
Pre-race strategy: We are looking for a result in the expected mass sprint and defend the KoM.
Profile:
The weather today is just not made for riding bikes, there is a heavy rain falling, making it a hard stage for the riders with many crashes. The morning break is 5 riders; we got Bøchman in the break.
The break works together, and get 5 minutes fast, the reaction from the peloton comes just before the last cat.2, with a very fast pace. Lots of riders fall back, and the favorite group is down to 42 riders. All out rider’s lose contact, we now only got Bøchman out in front.
The favorite group:
Even though the front group is racing hard, the pursuing favorite group rides in a frantic pace and is getting closer and closer, while the gruppetto is falling further back, losing minute after minute.
The front group:
Within the last 10 km our last hope falls apart, Bøchman crashes very hard on the slippery road, and is passed by the favorite group before he gets up.
The stage is won by Luke Rowe (Vodafone) over Yauheni Hutarovich (AG2R).
Rasmussen: A total disaster that we might as well just forget. Hopefully Bøchman haven’t got any long term injuries.
Christina: (At a press conference in Copenhagen): I have had talks with our group of sponsors and the Christina Watches management, since the beginning of July.
And we think it is now time to announce that we are ready to invest further into the team. We have change our goals, we now want to become a UCI ProTour team, within the next few years.
To manage this huge task, we need to hire stronger riders, we are for now satisfies with the sprinters we got, but we need to strengthen our climbers and TT riders, and we need on the long term, also to have more competitive cobble race riders.
We can’t do all this now, but in this season we are still negotiating with some riders that we may or may not sign, and next year we expect to make many changes on the team, to adapt to the future.
I can already announce that we have signed the Italian climber, 27 years old Davide Malacarne, formerly of Team Europecar.
Christina: The Team is here in Norway for the Tour de Fjords, The stage starts in Valle, a small municipality in the center on Norway, with only about 1300 inhabitants. The area has traditionally been very isolated, resulting in a unique folk culture, music and costumes.
Valle:
Valle municipality is rich on cultural sites, from Stone, Iron and Viking times, and old original farmhouses. Famous is Rygnestadtunet (now a museum) where some of the wood is dated to at least before 1349.
Rygnestadtunet:
Pre-race strategy: Last year Constantino Zaballa won the KoM in this race. But we had problems with the TTT in stage 3, and it is likely that it will be a problem again this year.
On the first stage, we will try to stay in the Peloton, hoping to get a good sprint finish.
Profile:
Roster:
Anders Bjerregård
Angelo Furlan
Daniele Aldegheri
Francisco José Pacheco
Lasse Bøchman
Lasse Christiansen
Marc Hester
Martin Pedersen
The morning break is just two riders Adrian Gjølberg (Joker) Edwin Ávila (Colombia) they got more than 5 minutes, on the top of the cat.1
The peloton steadily increase the pace, led by Garmin, slowly reducing the distance to the break.
Anders Bjerregård is back getting supplies for his team, with 85 km to go.
The break-away is reeled back with about 12 km to go, we set up a train, Pedersen - Bøchman – Pacheco.
The Stage is won by Aidis Kruopis (Astana) over Barry Markus (Vacansoleil), Pacheco takes the last spot on the podium.
Christina: Fine start on the race.
Stage:
1
Aidis Kruopis
Astana Pro Team
4h47'29
2
Barry Markus
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
3
Francisco José Pacheco
Christina Watches - Onfone
s.t.
4
Luka Mezgec
Team Argos - Shimano
s.t.
5
Juan José Lobato
Movistar Team
s.t.
6
Matti Breschel
Team Saxo - Tinkoff
s.t.
7
Danilo Napolitano
Lampre - Merida
s.t.
8
Andrea Palini
Lampre - Merida
s.t.
9
Lasse Bøchman
Christina Watches - Onfone
s.t.
10
Borut Božic
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
GC:
1
Aidis Kruopis
Astana Pro Team
4h47'09
2
Barry Markus
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
+ 8
3
Francisco José Pacheco
Christina Watches - Onfone
+ 12
4
Edwin Ávila
Colombia
+ 14
5
Adrian Gjølberg
Joker Merida
+ 16
6
Simone Stortoni
Lampre - Merida
+ 18
7
Luka Mezgec
Team Argos - Shimano
+ 20
8
Juan José Lobato
Movistar Team
s.t.
9
Matti Breschel
Team Saxo - Tinkoff
s.t.
10
Danilo Napolitano
Lampre - Merida
s.t.
Points:
1
Aidis Kruopis
Astana Pro Team
25
2
Barry Markus
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
20
3
Francisco José Pacheco
Christina Watches - Onfone
16
Mountain:
1
Adrian Gjølberg
Joker Merida
16
2
Edwin Ávila
Colombia
12
3
Christian Vande Velde
Garmin - Sharp
10
Team: Christina Watches - Onfone
Young: Barry Markus (Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team)
Rasmussen: The caravan has traveled about 100 km up the coast from Stavanger to Hjelmeland, another small municipality of about 2800 people.
Archaeological evidence shows settlements from early Stone Age (6500–4000 BC), and later burial tombs from 300-600 AD, with jewelry and other signs of wealth and high rank.
Hjelmeland church (1858)
Pre-race strategy: Again we will stay in the peloton helping Pacheco to a good finish.
Profile:
The morning break is just two riders, but with the very dangerous climber Mikel Nieve (Liberty Seguros)
The peloton don’t like that, and right after the cat.3 climb, the peloton have reeled the break back in.
The speed is very very high over the cat.2 and downhill towards the flat parts. The race explodes into small pieces. With 16 km to go, strong rider like Matti Breschel (Saxo) and Borut Božic (Astana) are over a minute behind, the same goes for Lasse Bøchman. Only 24 riders are left in the front group.
But we got Pacheco and Martin Pedersen in the front group, most of the group are worn out be the pace, with a great effort and timing, they are able to sprint their way to 2nd and 3rd, only beaten by race leader Aidis Kruopis.
Christina: Great racing from Pedersen & Pacheco, a very tough stage. Impressive they had the determination necessary to hang in.
Stage:
1
Aidis Kruopis
Astana Pro Team
3h06'21
2
Francisco José Pacheco
Christina Watches - Onfone
s.t.
3
Martin Pedersen
Christina Watches - Onfone
s.t.
4
Koldo Fernández
Garmin - Sharp
s.t.
5
Ion Izagirre
Liberty Seguros - Würth
s.t.
6
Dominik Nerz
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
7
Wesley Kreder
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
8
Luke Durbridge
Garmin - Sharp
s.t.
9
Barry Markus
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
10
Peter Velits
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team
s.t.
GC:
1
Aidis Kruopis
Astana Pro Team
7h53'10
2
Francisco José Pacheco
Christina Watches - Onfone
+ 20
3
Barry Markus
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
+ 28
4
Martin Pedersen
Christina Watches - Onfone
+ 32
5
Wesley Kreder
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
+ 40
6
Koldo Fernández
Garmin - Sharp
s.t.
7
Ion Izagirre
Liberty Seguros - Würth
s.t.
8
Adriano Malori
Lampre - Merida
s.t.
9
Tony Gallopin
RadioShack - Leopard
s.t.
10
Luke Durbridge
Garmin - Sharp
s.t.
Points:
1
Aidis Kruopis
Astana Pro Team
50
2
Francisco José Pacheco
Christina Watches - Onfone
36
3
Barry Markus
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
27
Mountain:
1
Adrian Gjølberg
Joker Merida
16
2
Alessandro Vanotti
Astana Pro Team
14
3
Edwin Ávila
Colombia
12
Team: Christina Watches - Onfone
Young: Barry Markus (Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team)
Rasmussen: The caravan has traveled back to Stavanger, for a TTT from Risavika Havn (Risavika Harbor) to the center of Stavanger. Stavanger is a large municipality of about 130.000 people in the southwest parts of Norway.
There is evidence of humans from early Stone age 10.000 years ago. Norway’s riches Bronze Age tombs, a woman of high rank, she had neckband, two bracelets, needle plate, a large belt plate, and a dagger, all in bronze, evidence of the wealth of this area in the Bronze Age.
Profile:
Team Katusha Team won the TTT over Garmin – Sharp with just 2 sec., but it was not enough to take the overall lead from Aidis Kruopis (Astana).
As expected we had a horrible day, ending last losing 1’46.
Rasmussen: The caravan has traveled about 75 km south along the coast from Stavanger to Egersund, a town of about 11.500 people. The area has been populated from the stone age.
The name Egersund (originally Eikundarsund) is mentioned in the Old Norse kings' sagas (about 1230), as a place King Olav the Holy's often visited with his fleet around year 1000. “St. Maria kirke” a church, was mentiones in 1292. In 1623 the existing church was built.
Pre-race strategy: Again we will stay in the peloton helping Pacheco to a good finish.
Profile:
It start with some rain, at the steep cat.3 several riders attack, amongst the attackers is well known names like Mikel Nieve (Liberty Seguros) and Thor Hushovd (BMC), it ends out with a break of 9 riders.
We set Lasse Bøchman up front, to pull the peloton over the cat.2, not to let group Nieve get too much time.
The break-away is kept in line, and right after the 10 km mark the break is over.
We get Pacheco on the wheel of Martin Pedersen and start the fight for position.
This is a view of the last 1200 meters:
Pic. 1-2:
Race leader Aidis Kruopis starts the sprint in front, with Pelucchi (IAM Cycling) on his wheel, Pacheco third but Gallopin (RadioShack) is coming fast on the outside.
Pic. 3-4:
Kruopis started too early, he is falling back, Gallopin is very fast today he takes the win, Pelucchi hold out for 2nd, and Pacheco for 3rd. Lancaster presses himself in for 4th, in front of Kruopis.
Final result:
1
Tony Gallopin
RadioShack - Leopard
4h28'00
2
Matteo Pelucchi
IAM Cycling
s.t.
3
Francisco José Pacheco
Christina Watches - Onfone
s.t.
4
Brett Lancaster
Orica - GreenEdge
s.t.
5
Aidis Kruopis
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
6
Yukiya Arashiro
Garmin - Sharp
s.t.
7
Kevin Pauwels
Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise
s.t.
8
Matti Breschel
Team Saxo - Tinkoff
s.t.
9
Andrea Palini
Lampre - Merida
s.t.
10
Martin Pedersen
Christina Watches - Onfone
s.t.
GC:
1
Aidis Kruopis
Astana Pro Team
12h56'24
2
Tony Gallopin
RadioShack - Leopard
+ 29
3
Luke Durbridge
Garmin - Sharp
+ 36
4
Kristof Goddaert
IAM Cycling
+ 38
5
Arman Kamyshev
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
6
Kristof Vandewalle
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team
+ 40
7
Peter Velits
Omega Pharma - Quick·Step Cycling Team
s.t.
8
Koldo Fernández
Garmin - Sharp
+ 43
9
Ion Izagirre
Liberty Seguros - Würth
+ 46
10
Jesús Herrada
Movistar Team
+ 47
.
17
Francisco José Pacheco
Christina Watches - Onfone
+ 1'50
Points:
1
Aidis Kruopis
Astana Pro Team
62
2
Francisco José Pacheco
Christina Watches - Onfone
52
3
Tony Gallopin
RadioShack - Leopard
29
Mountain:
1
Mikel Nieve
Liberty Seguros - Würth
22
2
Adrian Gjølberg
Joker Merida
16
3
Alessandro Vanotti
Astana Pro Team
14
Team: Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
Young: Luke Durbridge - Garmin - Sharp
Edited by Tamijo on 16-12-2015 19:26
but what happened in the TTT 
