Beginning in 2013, one of the most remarkable races of the bicycle season is traditionally held in August. `It is the Arctic race of Norway. You can ask: "What is remarkable about this race, even if it is not included in the World Tour's calendar?". This race is different from the rest and is one of my favorites in the whole season for several reasons:
1. The Arctic race of Norway is the only one in the World calendar, which is held behind the Arctic Circle and is the most northern race of the season, and during the race there is the opportunity to observe all the beauties of Norway nature thanks to the magnificent frames, which specialists from the Norwegian BBC help to create.
2. The race is multi-day competition with 4 stages, where each stage unfolding the struggle for victory, primarily because of the profile stages, which often resemble the stages of classical one day races.
3. The race takes place at one time with, as a rule, not very interesting BinckBank Tour (it was in the past - the Tour of Benelux and EnekoTour), which allows you to diversify the television "bike-leisure."
4. Despite the European status of the race, some teams of the World Tour take part in this race.
This year, the Arctic race traditionally took place in the very north of Norway, and the profile of the stages was not suitable for sprinters or for lovers of high mountains. It was required from the riders, both the skill of mountain ascents, and the ability to ride across the plain, fighting the winds, which at such latitude are unpredictable and willful. The usual stage had a length of 150-200 kilometers with more or less serious lifts along the course of the race and small hills near the finish. At each stage a small group of riders came to the finish and somebody from such group won the stage. In such situation it was necessary to show stability and strive to fight for the bonus seconds at the finish line to be the winner of the entire race.
In the current race, 4 teams of the World Tour took part: BMC Racing, Astana, Katusha-Alpecin and Dimension Data. In total, 19 teams took part, each of which was represented by 6 riders, with the exception of Dimension Data, which had 5 bicyclists in peloton. Thus, the whole race was attended by 113 athletes, and 106 of them reached the finish.
The most stable results during all stages were shown by 4 riders: Matthew van der Poole (Netherlands), Sergey Chernetsky (Russia), Colin Joyce (USA) and Marcus Hoelgaard (Norway). The representative of the Netherlands from the team Rally Cycling gave a bright race, winning the first and last stage, and also taking second place in the third stage, but failed in the second stage, losing the winner's group for more than one minute. The remaining three riders from the above mentioned had an equal race with each other, but Sergei Chernetsky, who won the overall standings, was ahead faster than second-placed Markus Hulgaard for 11 seconds, and Colin Joyce - at 12.
Also remarkable is the fact that the winner's shirt in the mountain clssification is called "Salmon Jersey", and its winner, among other things, receives a prize in the form of 500 kilograms of Norwegian salmon.
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