Uno-X masters home race with back-to-back stage wins
August 5 th 2024 - 18:38
The Norwegian team Uno-X mobility echoed his excellent performance in the opening stage of the Arctic Race of Norway with yet another amazing display in the second one, controlling the unfolding of the events all day long to set the scenario for another mass sprint on which its fastest rider, Alexander Kristoff, raised again his arms in victory. The local legend scored his seventh-ever stage win in this race and secured himself a second outing in the midnight sun jersey. The landscape will change on Tuesday, as the third stage between Tverlandet and Sulitjelma is set to finish atop Jakobsbakken, a seven-kilometer climb on which light riders will come to the fore.
108 riders took the start in the second stage of the 2024 Arctic Race of Norway, held between Beiarn and Fauske over 178,1 kilometers, at 13:45. On top of the much anticipated 6,3-kilometer long gravel sector in Holtan (km 158,5), the riders were challenged pretty early in the stage with the climb to Beiarfjellet (Cat 1, km 15,6), the highest-ever summit in the history of the world’s northernmost road cycling race at 608 meters. Peacock jersey holder Jelle Johannink (TDT-Unibet), took off as the flag dropped, along with Simon Pellaud (Tudor), Eivind Broholt Fougner and Storm Ingebritsen (Coop-Repsol), to crest the first climb with a 5’00” advantage on the peloton. Johannink led the front group across the summit to further strengthen his position as leader of the Mountains classification. Ingebritsen drove the break through Enge (IS, km 39,3), where they held a 4’05” margin on a bunch where Uno-X was at the helm on behalf of overall leader Alexander Kristoff.
Simon Pellaud’s one-man show
After completing the Kvikstadheia (Cat 2, km 57,3) climb, first created by Johannink with the peloton 3’30” in arrears of the breakaway, the race entered a phase on which the gap gradually decreased down to the 2’05” timed at Fauske (IS, km 125,1), where Pellaud was first across. The climb to Seljeåsnes (Cat 3, km 144,3) saw Pellaud take off to claim maximum points, with only Ingebritsen managing to bridge back to the Swiss rider as the peloton rode across the summit 1’10” in arrears, driven by Equipo Kern Pharma. On the climb to Rødås (Cat 3, km 153,8), Pellaud accelerated for good to crest solo with 50” on the bunch and 10” on Ingebritsen, who was swept in shortly after.
‘Grey roads’ ahead of a textbook sprint
A dozen riders went down at the back of the bunch just ahead the gravel sector in Holtan (km 158,5), with white jersey Milan Fretin (Cofidis) crashing out of the race. Pellaud hit the ‘grey roads’ holding a 40”-gap that came down to 20” out of the gravel, only to be reeled back in by a frantic peloton with 8 kilometers to go. Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) led the bunch across Fauske (IS, km 169,7), with first Arkéa-B&B Hotels and later Uno-X taking over at its head. Into the final kilometer, the Norwegian team would pull off a near-textbook leadout for its star sprinter Kristoff to net a second straight stage win over Tom Van Asbroeck (Israel-Premier Tech) and fellow Uno-X rider Magnus Cort.
