Tinkoff-Saxo aimed to place team stagiaires Antwan Tolhoek and Michael Gogl in an ideal position ahead of the 3.7k summit finish on stage 3 at Arctic Race of Norway. Just 21-year old Tolhoek took 21st place on the stage – a performance that is recognized by sports director Sean Yates.

The decisive stage 3 to Målselv with a 3.7km uphill finish saw BMC take the win and race lead with Ben Hermans. 42 seconds after, young stagiaire and race debutant for Tinkoff-Saxo, Antwan Tolhoek placed 21st after a hard finale, tells team sports director Sean Yates.

“Our goal and plan was to position Michael Gogl and Antwan Tolhoek in the right place at the front of the bunch at the bottom of the final climb with 3.7km to go. We did that thanks to Mørkøv, Kolar and Juraj Sagan and Antwan kept a good pace to grab 21st. It’s not a result that we can be extremely satisfied with as a team, but for Antwan it’s definitely encouraging and a good sign for such a young kid riding his first pro race”, comments Yates and adds:

“He was up against riders like Kangart, Taaramäe and Mathias Frank, who did a top 10 at this year’s Tour de France and Antwan wasn’t many seconds off. For Gogl today was perhaps a knock back down to earth after a string of strong efforts from him. There’s a big difference between the climbing speed of the pros and the amateurs, as the more seasoned pros climb so fast. Nevertheless, Gogl can look back on some good days and we have tomorrow’s stage still to ride”.

Stage 3 of Arctic Race of Norway saw a change in race leaders, as Ben Hermans took the stage win and assumed the overall lead ahead of the final day of racing in Norway.

“Tomorrow, BMC will have to control the stage, as they have three guys in the top five after today’s stage. However, it’s a tough stage tomorrow, it will be fast and we do a big loop before the stage finale, where Tolhoek could have a dig, while the others stay put ahead of the final part”, finishes Sean Yates.