Odd Christian Eiking (Wanty-Gobert) claimed his first win of the 2019 season on home soil as he clinched the queen stage of the Arctic Race of Norway atop the gruelling Storheia Summit.
With 2km to go, race leader Mathieu van der Poel (Corendon-Circus) had to let four riders go: Alexey Lutsenko and Hugo Houle (Astana), Eiking and Barguil.
Lilian Calmejane (Total Direct Energie) and Krists Neilands (Israel Cycling Academy) made the junction inside the steep last kilometre. 400 metres before the line, Eiking powered to victory as Barguil and Lutsenko couldn’t hold onto his wheel. They crossed the line in that order with Barguil taking the lead of the general classification over from Van der Poel, with an advantage of 3’’ over Lutsenko and 15’’ over Neilands.
“I have mixed feeling,” Barguil admitted. “I knew Chris was racing at home, that he wanted to win and that he’s in good shape. The climb suited him and he was better than me. I got close but not enough; even if second is not bad.
“I don’t know if a three-second lead is enough to win tomorrow. It’s not only Lutsenko; there are a lot of guys at 15 seconds or so. There are also the intermediate sprints and Lutsenko can catch if he wins one of them. I need to be careful and I can trust my teammates so that we can do our best.”
Arctic Race of Norway 2019 – stage 3 results (Sortland – Storheia Summit):
| 1 | Odd Christian Eiking (Wanty-Gobert) | 4:07:32 |
| 2 | Warren Barguil (Arkéa Samsic) | +05” |
| 3 | Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) | +13” |
| 4 | Lilian Calmejane (Total Direct Energie) | +17” |
| 5 | Krists Neilands (Israel Cycling Academy) | ,, |
| 6 | Hugo Houle (Astana) | +23” |
| 7 | Tom-Jelte Slagter (Dimension Data) | +32” |
| 8 | Simon Carr (Delko Marseille Provence) | +36” |
| 9 | Sindre Skjøstad Lunke (Riwal Readynez) | ,, |
| 10 | Magnus Cort (Astana) | ,, |
Arctic Race of Norway 2019 – general classification after stage 3:
| 1 | Warren Barguil (Arkéa Samsic) | 11:23:56 |
| 2 | Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) | +03” |
| 3 | Krists Neilands (Israel Cycling Academy) | +15” |
| 4 | Lilian Calmejane (Total Direct Energie) | +18” |
| 5 | Hugo Houle (Astana) | +30” |
| 6 | Magnus Cort (Astana) | +35” |
| 7 | Sindre Skjøstad Lunke (Riwal Readynez) | +37” |
| 8 | Enrico Gasparotto (Dimension Data) | +48” |
| 9 | Brandon McNulty (Rally UHC Cycling) | ,, |
| 10 | Markus Hoelgaard (Uno-X) | +52” |
