Arctic Race of Norway Preview | Who will win the Arctic Race of Norway?

Details: Published on Wednesday, 07 August 2013 23:44

Arctic Race of Norway Preview:

Bodø to Bodø, 192.5kms

A new ASO-organized race starts Thursday in a pretty unique location - the Arctic Race of Norway will take place from August 8 to 11 above the Arctic Circle. The race is comprised of 4 stages from Bodø to Harstad via the Lofoten islands.

thorkiss Maybe I should say it starts 'Thors'day as there is one star attraction that this race is going to be all about I think.. Thor Hushovd is the 'ambassador' for the race and the timing is just perfect with Thor coming back to form spectacularly with two super stage wins in the Tour of Poland.

"I've found confidence again and my teammates trust me as well, It gives me high ambitions for the Arctic Race. I'm proud of my country and I want the cycling world to realize how beautiful it is up there. It's an honor for me to be the Ambassador. But I also want to win the race. My goal is to win at least one stage and the overall as well." That was Thor speaking a few days ago about his ambitions for the race..

120 riders representing 20 teams have entered the Arctic Race of Norway. The peloton includes five ProTeams (BMC, Katusha, Argos-Shimano, Belkin and Vacansoleil-DCM) and all six Norwegian Continental teams, featuring Ronde de l'Oise winner Vegard Breen from Joker-Merida and Ville de Saguenay U23 Nations Cup winner Sondre Holst Enger of Team Plussbank.

One of Thor's most likely challengers was probably going to be Alexander Kristoff but he has had to cry off with sickness in the last few days (he has been diagnosed with bacterial pneumonia in the right lung).

ARN map Belkin Pro Cycling have two strong riders in Lars-Petter Nordhaug and Paris-Roubaix runner up Sep Vanmarcke but neither are sprinters and will be looking to light up the race before a sprint finish. Vacansoleil-DCM are sending Barry Markus, Kenny van Hummel and Boy van Poppel so expect them to be challenging Thor in the sprints..

A full list of the starters can be found here.

The race is mostly flat and it would be a big surprise if Thor isn't the star of the show this week. He has even said himself that he can see all 4 stages ending in a bunch sprint so he is confident of taking the overall as well as some stages. Boy Van Poppel can show up in some of the sprints too but I also expect Nordhaug to be active and looking to get in breaks and put on a big show on home soil too. Team Plusbank, Froy-Bianchi, Team Oster Hus-Ridley, Ringeriks-Kraft Look, Oneca-Trek and Joker Merida are all made up of Norwegians too (except for one Swede) so expect them to be in the thick of the action over the 4 days.

Stage one does a loop around Nordland from Bodø back to Bodø, taking in no fewer than 5 categorised climb, with the hardest being a 10.9km drag at an average of 4.8%. These climbs shouldn't really trouble Thor given his performance in Poland - this stage actually looks very similar to the stage 5 he won, just 30km longer at 192km in total. There are no prices out yet from any bookies but if there were I would have to make him a hot favourite and a strong recommendation. I am having my doubts though that any of the bookies will price it up seeing as none have done so late on Wednesday night. I'll check again tomorrow and update here and on twitter if I see anything of interest.