Leigh Howard (IAM) took the victory in the opening stage of the Tour des Fjords after a very confusing and chaotic start to the five-day race. After the peloton had taken a wrong turn on the final circuit, Howard, his teammate Roger Kluge and Jesper Asselman (Roompot) escaped and the Australian made a well-timed attack to take the win ahead of the Dutchman, with August Jensen (Joker) winning the sprint for third five seconds later. Howard is the first leader of the race.

 

We have gathered a few reactions.

 

Leigh Howard: I would have preferred to win under less odd circumstances

“I am very happy to have won this stage, but sorry to have won under these odd circumstances,” Leigh Howard said.

 

“Frankly, I don’t want to lounge on this success today.  I just have to highlight the incredible work that Roger Kluge did in the final. I was extremely happy to have him with me. And now we have to demonstrate the strength of the team for the rest of the event through till Sunday.”


 

Kjell Carlström, IAM Cycling directeur sportif along with Lionel Marie at the Tour des Fjords, added.

 

“Roger Kluge and Leigh Howard attacked some 16 kilometers from the finish. With the help of Jesper Asselman (Roompot Oranje-Platoon), they managed to hold off the bulk of chasing peloton led by Katusha. And then Leigh perfectly executed the finish by anticipating and launching his attack with only 500 meters to go to the finish.”

 

The riders of the Tour des Fjords were pre-testing in a way the circuit that will serve as the route for the 2017 World Championships, which are planned to take place in Bergen. It is intended to be a “technical route with a climb in two sections that will prove demanding because of the repetition,” according to Kjell Carlström.

 

Rain and cold lashed the professional riders throughout the entire first stage. After the ordeal, directeur sportif Lionel Marie did not hide his joy at checking into the team hotel. “I am ready to warmup with a good shower; I’ve lost well over 15 ° C in about 24 hours. I’m frozen.”

 

Thanks to Leigh Howard’s victory today, the IAM Cycling team has equaled its record for number of wins in one season (18 in 2014). This also brings the number of top-5 placings for the team this season to 80.


 

Huge Norwegian talent confirms his potential in Tour des Fjords opener

After great performances in the Arctic Race and the Tour of Norway, August Jensen (Coop) was third.

 

”August was third. It was a good stage for us. Whether it was because of the chaos along the way, or something else that plays into our favour, we do not know. 3rd place is at least very good. It had been a completely different race without the incident, sports director Olav Benjaminsen told procycling.no.

”It is a very good result. But we would have preferred it to have happened without such unfortunate incidents. However, the result is very, very good.

 

”It often happens but usually in smaller races. There are great challenges in organizing a big race in a big city like Bergen. Obviously it failed. They will analyze it as this was not good. They could certainly do better than today.”

 

Damiano Caruso ready to strike, in-form Joey Rosskopf on the attack, De Marchi abandons

Joey Rosskopf battled the elements at the front of the race on Tour des Fjords Stage 1 as part of the day's breakaway before a hectic finish saw Damiano Caruso finish fourth behind stage winner and new race leader, Leigh Howard (IAM Cycling).

 

Damiano Caruso said:

 

"It was quite a nervous and hectic finale on today's first stage in Norway. We rode the last 20 kilometers on the 2017 World Championships parcours and unfortunately at one point the peloton got sent the wrong way. There was a lot of confusion and some riders from the back of the bunch attacked. By the time we had an overview of the situation, it was too late to catch them. In the end, I did a good sprint and was able to get fourth place."

 

Joey Rosskopf said:

 

"I was feeling pretty good today and I was able to force the break on the first climb. I was hoping it would be a bigger group as it was always going to be hard to stay out in front with just four riders. I was happy to be able to make that move and I think doing something like that on the first day of the race can be good for my confidence and with the wind, the rain and the cold weather it was a relatively good day to be out in front as we were staying safe and warm!."

 

Sports Director Yvon Ledanois said:

 

"We knew that we needed to try something today and force a breakaway as with time bonuses on the line it is the perfect race for the sprinters' team. For us it is a bit more complicated especially as we unfortunately lost De Marchi to illness today.

 

"With the peloton you never know what can happen but Caruso showed he had good legs at the end as was able to get a good result despite the chaos. Rosskopf also showed strong form in the break today. We were riding aggresively as we need to do every day and I trust that the guys here will do that."

 

Alessandro De Marchi was forced to stop racing on Stage 1 due to illness. A medical update is provided below

 

BMC Racing Team Dr. Dario Spinelli said:

"De Marchi was experiencing some gastrointestinal problem over the first hour of racing today and it was in his best interest to stop racing. We will see how it evolves however I think that after a few days rest he will be able to resume with his current race schedule."

 

Verva German in the top 5 in Tour des Fjords opener

German Jonas Koch from VERVA ActiveJet Team finished fifth in the first stage of the Tour des Fjords. 

 

“It was a hard stage all day in the rain. The final circuit was not easy and extremely difficult technically. Many corners on wet roads and at high speed made it madness. I am glad that I was able to feel good in this situation,” he said.

 

Stölting captains stay in contention in chaotic Norwegian opener

In driving rain, Stölting’s Christian Mager was part of a four-man breakaway on stage 1 of the Tour des Fjords (2.1) that was only caught just before the finishing circuit. In a chaotic final, Alexander Kamp finished 11th.

 

Sports Director André Steensen said after the stage: “It was a very chaotic day. Rain, narrow roads in rolling hills and a high pace on this short stage meant that everyone was tired. Christian Mager got into the break of the day, and he rode well, but they never got a big advantage. In the final we were placed close to the front of the peloton until they were led the wrong way. That’s how three riders got away, making the finish even more chaotic. But we could keep Alexander Kamp and Rasmus Guldhammer in the first big group, placing 11th and 15, and Alex Kirsch was also in this group. Michael Reihs finished in the group behind that lost a bit of time on the last two kilometres due to the wet turns. All in all it was a good start to the race, and we’re looking forward to the next stages.”

 

Tinkoff stagiaire impresses on first day in Norway

With only a few kilometres left, a small break had a slim advantage, taking the win just a few seconds in front of the chasers, where Tinkoff stagiaire Lorenzo Fortunato finished in the bunch in 16th spot, closely followed by Nikolay Trusov in 17th.

While the team had some bad luck in the finishing circuit, Sport Director, Tristan Hoffman, was pleased with the team’s performances, particularly the young stagiaire, Fortunato.

 

“We had some bad luck with Erik [Baska] just before the circuit – which is the circuit for the World Championships – where he had a mechanical. Then there was confusion in the peloton when the moto went the wrong way. Some managed to stay out in front though and it was good to see Lorenzo up there. The other stagiaire, Andrea, had a jacket in his wheel so had to stop, while for Pawel [Poljanski] this was his first race in a couple of months, so he’s finding his legs again.”

 

Tomorrow’s stage will see riders make their way south from Stord on a narrow, exposed route, before heading north again to Odda. The race drops 260m below sea level as the parcours takes riders through the Bømlafjord tunnel as part of a fast and technical stage that takes in some stunning landscapes – as long as the weather holds off.

 

At least year’s edition of the race, the climb out of the tunnel split the bunch, and so Hoffman expected something similar this year.

 

“Tomorrow the parcours will go to -260m and then we’ll have to climb back out again, so there’s some serious climbing after just 20km. Last year the whole peloton exploded here, so I hope we can come out of this well. We don’t have the best climbers so we’ll wait to see what happens. There’s a climb at the end but nothing too crazy - we will see what we can do with Nikolay and Lorenzo and if Erik makes it through the final climb he should contest the sprint too. There’s no absolute leader for the team, so we’ll take each day as it comes.”

 

Frustrated Alexander Kristoff after chaotic opener: Why didn’t we just have a re-start?

The opening stage of the 2016 Tour des Fjords didn’t play out the way Team KATUSHA’s Alexander Kristoff had envisioned it. In fact, a wrong turn at a tunnel and a lack of organization had a great impact over the final of the stage one on Wednesday’s 142 km stage from Osøyro to Bergen.

 

”The team did a very good job. We had control of everything on the final lap. I won the intermediate sprint and there was no breakaway in front of us. We came to a tunnel and the motorbike in front of us went straight, then he stopped because he had gone the wrong way. We turned around and I thought there would be a re-start, because we had been taken the wrong way through the tunnel and we were all together so it would be easy to do. But some went through the tunnel and took a short cut to the right and immediately had 30-seconds on us. The race was not neutralized even though the rest of us went back to go the right way. They kept the advantage all the way to the finish line,” explained team leader Alexander Kristoff.

 

”To me this is a disappointing situation. I cannot believe we did not re-start all together, because that’s how we were when the mistake was made. There were no signs, no cars, no one showing us which way to go. We had no clue whether we should go straight or to the right. Most of the guys on the team looked very strong and I felt strong myself on the climb. We tried to bring the guys back at the end, but it was too much. We can be happy how the team raced but we cannot be happy the way the race ended,” concluded Alexander Kristoff. 

 

ONE climber bounces back from bad luck in Norway

Lining up on the start line, the heavens threatened to open as riders assembled, with attacks being attempted from every angle as soon as the flag was dropped and the race was officially underway. Only 2km in and ONE’s Richard Handley was brought down in a crash after riders were squeezed on a narrow part of the course. Uninjured Handley remounted his bike and got stuck back into the action. ONE Pro Cycling were active in the attacks but missed out on the first official breakaway after the first KOM, when a group of four managed to escape and establish a max of 4 minutes on the bunch.

 

With deteriorating weather making life a little more difficult for the riders, Lots of standing water and narrow roads caused even more crashes but thankfully ONE Pro Cycling weren’t involved in any further ‘get downs’ for the remainder of the race..

 

Even after a crash, two punctures and a bike change for Richard Handley, he managed to position himself in the front group in the closing stages and finished in the main group just 20 seconds down on the leaders with the rest of ONE Pro Cycling crossed the line safely shortly after.

 

Novo Nordisk suffer in cold opener in Norway

Team Novo Nordisk made its 2016 Norwegian debut on Wednesday at a cold and wet stage 1 of the Tour de Fjords.

 

“It was set to be a rainy and windy day,” said Team Novo Nordisk Sport Director Pavel Cherkasov. “Our main focus was to pay attention to our position, confront the weather conditions and help each other at the end. And overall, our riders were active.”

 

“Today was a pretty hard day due to the weather conditions,” said Team Novo Nordisk rider David Lozano.” It rained the whole day, and the winds were pretty strong. I felt good in the beginning, but by 50km to go I was completely frozen.”

 

As the riders approached the final 20km, the peloton was split by a fork in the road, allowing for three riders to pull out in front, and a crash inside the last three kilometers set the stage for a chaotic finale.

 

“I managed to stay in the front group all the way until 1km to go,” Lozano said. “But the race was pretty nervous at the end, since the peloton took a wrong turn and split the group. It’s really hard to race in these conditions, especially coming from 35ºC at my home in Spain. Still, we manage the cold and wet with our Craft apparel.”

 

“Chris Williams and James Glasspool found a group of 12 riders on the last 30km,” Cherkasov said, “and finished safely inside the time cut. Right at the final finish lap– which was on the 2017 World Championship parcours– Javier Megias came off and the remaining group began to split. Joonas Henttala finished with the group just behind the first bunch. Lozano and Charles Planet finished in the first group.”

 

Leigh Howard (IAM Cycling) edged out Jesper Asselman (Roompot – Oranje Peloton) for the stage win, and Lozano finished best for Team Novo Nordisk at 42nd, 22 seconds behind Howard.