Martin Laas (Bora-hansgrohe) has won the second stage of the Arctic Race of Norway, beating Alexander Kristoff and Danny van Poppel in the final sprint.
You can rewatch STAGE 2 of 2021 Arctic Race of Norway HERE
“It’s quite good and it’s close to my home. OK, from here it’s 1500 kilometres but Finland is a neighbouring country so it’s quite nice,” said Laas.
“It was really tough and there was also headwind and it was slightly downhill, so it was also a little bit of a tricky one. To be honest, with 5k to go I had cramps, and I wasn’t sure if I would be able to sprint or not. But in the end the team worked really well, and Rudiger [Selig] brought me to 300 metres to go. I followed some wheels from there and then in the last 150 metres I launched my sprint. I saw from the left side that I was faster than Kristoff and I was quite sure I was going to pass him – but in the end it was a close one.”
Kristoff moves into the overall leader’s yellow jersey after picking up six bonus seconds for his second place finish, but is level on time with stage 1 winner Markus Hoelgaard.
Relive the 2nd stage as the #ArcticRace headed into ?? Finland for the 1st time, with ?? Martin Laas pipping ?? Alexander Kristoff to the win!
The landscapes throughout the stage were breathtaking ? pic.twitter.com/EQJtfBW4L6
— Arctic Race of Norway (@ArcticRaceofN) August 6, 2021
