Arctic Race of Norway 2019 - 15/18 Aug

[Danskebjerge]

Kind of sad that a big race such as this gets almost no coverage in the Norwegian mainstream media:

https://www.nrk.no/sport/

Hoelgård (a **** Norwegian rider for goodness sake) won the stage and yet there is only room for a short text in the far right side of the front sports news page. Heck, they even misspelled it "Artic Race of Norway".

Is the rival HC race Tour of Norway considered a bigger race among Norwegians?

Tour of Norway is boooring.

 

[Danskebjerge]

He clearly did. He won!

But it was highly surprising that he could gain that one second on Barguil at the finish. He certainly could not have expected that - the battle seemed lost there.

 

[proffate]

Funny, if there was one less rider in front of Lutsenko, he gets 2nd, Barguil 3rd, Barguil wins by a second.

If there was one more rider in front of Lutsenko, Luts 4th Barguil 5th, Barguil wins by 3 seconds.

This is assuming 10/6/4 time bonuses and a 1s gap between them.

 

[del1962]

Glad to see Barguil has apologised for his outburst

 

[jaylew]

11th stage race win of the year for Astana

 

[Norbea]

On a funnier note, according to TV2 Norge, Barguil has apparently attacked Gasparotto verbally, because he was discontent with the way the sprint was ridden. Apparently, he thinks that Gaspa closed him when Luts started his sprint and that this "maneuver" cost him the 1 second.

Watching the replay from various angles, it looks like Barguil is just being Barguil. But maybe I am missing something?

Do you happen to know if there are any major paved climbs in the area at around the same difficulty or more difficult than the climb to Storheia from yesterday's stage? I know this region of Norway is probably not stacked with heavy-lifters like Dalsnibba, Trollstigen or Sognefjellet, but still there must be some great climbs in the northern parts of Norway? The only ones I can think of areNesnaveien and Melfjordveien, but they are both easier than Storheia and possibly also more southern than the Arctic Race of Norway would ever go.

No there isn't many paved climbs even though there are plenty of mountains to climb. There are however a lot of nice gravel climbs all around the northern regions similar to Storheia. There are all kinds of radars,TV/Radio/Tele stations placed all around with dirt roads all the way up. And Storheia got paved recently. The problem seems to be that building roads in the long stretched and difficult arctic terrain is a bit of a nightmare and the costs are high. The melting periods in the spring destroys a lot of roads and the list of roads that needs maintenance is longer than what the government is able to get fixed. Steep mountains, narrow valleys and shifting coastal climate combined with heavy snowfall also make mountain roads dangerous for avalanches. Roads on mountains that are almost impossible to keep open at winter time is not a priority. And if there is one thing Norway are experts on it is drilling. Drilling for oil or drilling through the mountains and under the fjords rather than going round or over is something Norway does well.

 

[Norbea]

Tour of Norway is boooring.

Agree and if it was up to me they should just drop ToN all together - especially the boring flat stuff around anonymous citys and industrial areas on the south-east of Norway. Make more out of the ARoN concept. Make it even longer and include some of the nice stuff on the south-west coast.

Arctic Race has more enthusiasm around it and I can't wait to see next years Uno-X-team in ARoN, hopefully headed by Leknessund - an arctic supertalent - the crowds would go bananas.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Agree and if it was up to me they should just drop ToN all together - especially the boring flat stuff around anonymous citys and industrial areas on the south-east of Norway. Make more out of the ARoN concept. Make it even longer and include some of the nice stuff on the south-west coast.

Arctic Race has more enthusiasm around it and I can't wait to see next years Uno-X-team in ARoN, hopefully headed by Leknessund - an arctic supertalent - the crowds would go bananas.

Basically all the big (geographically) regions to the west of Oslo and Hedmark have some of the greatest climbs (especially Oppland and the Fjord region) in Norway. And the roads seem to be very good too, although ofcourse the tunnels become a problem if you do not plan the routes carefully. It seems like in the latter years in Tour of Norway, that Hønefoss is pretty much the furthest they have gone that way, which is really a shame.

 

[Danskebjerge]

Agree and if it was up to me they should just drop ToN all together - especially the boring flat stuff around anonymous citys and industrial areas on the south-east of Norway. Make more out of the ARoN concept. Make it even longer and include some of the nice stuff on the south-west coast.

Arctic Race has more enthusiasm around it and I can't wait to see next years Uno-X-team in ARoN, hopefully headed by Leknessund - an arctic supertalent - the crowds would go bananas.

But I guess the Tour of Norway is supposed to highlight the strong sprinters that Norway has produced for so long, ranging from Hushovd to Kristoff.

 

[Norbea]

But I guess the Tour of Norway is supposed to highlight the strong sprinters that Norway has produced for so long, ranging from Hushovd to Kristoff.

No doubt that has something to do with it. There is also a certain amount of rivalry between West and East when it comes to Norwegian cycling. This sometimes manifest itself between riders (Kristoff vs EBH). Between teams, but also on an organizational level (Tour de Fjords vs Tour of Norway) and especially when it comes to where a velodrome should be built etc. Hushovd/Lauritzen are from the south coast and are not that involved in this sort of quarrels. I guess the financial disaster of the worlds in Bergen is partly a result of rivals trying to outdo each other. Arctic Race had their own way of doing things and went directly to ASO and France to find partners and support, avoiding all the usual politics within Norwegian cycling.