Cedrik Bakke Christophersen claimed the first professional win of his career on home roads on Sunday, surging clear inside the final kilometre of the last climb to take the concluding stage of the Arctic Race of Norway in Narvik. The 24-year-old Unibet Rose Rockets rider covered the 190.5km leg from Sortland in 4:03:06, with Ludovico Crescioli finishing second three seconds back and overall leader Guillermo Thomas Silva third on the same time. It was the 19th stage win for Norwegian riders in the race's history.
The bigger prize, though, was decided in Silva's favour. The XDS Astana rider defended the leader's Midnight Sun jersey through a testing finale, a 2.8km climb to the line averaging eight per cent, to become the first South American to win the Arctic Race of Norway. Silva completed the race in 15:34:12, 14 seconds ahead of pre-race favourite Lennert van Eetvelt of Lotto Intermarche and 25 seconds clear of Alessandro Pinarello of the NSN Cycling Team. The same three riders filled the young rider podium, a classification Silva also claimed.
Silva, who had taken command of the race with his stage-three victory on the Storheia climb the previous day, started the finale with 11 riders within a minute of his lead, making the closing day a tense afternoon. An early breakaway of three riders, Adne Holter and Henrik Pedersen of Uno-X Mobility joined by Anders Foldanger, stretched its advantage to almost three minutes with 40km remaining before the peloton hauled them back on the run towards Narvik. Pedersen was later named the most combative rider.
