Vanmarcke wins stage 3 in Tour of Norway

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Already on the offensive the previous day, but let down by poor cooperation in the chasing group, Sep Vanmarcke (Belkin) took his revenge as he won the first ever uphill finish of the Tour of Norway in Budor. The champion of Flemish classics even claimed the polka dot jersey but Marc De Maar (Unitedhealthcare) retained the lead twenty-four hours prior to the queen stage in Lillehammer.

"It means a lot for me to win here," Vanmarcke declared. "I don't win a lot. This is actually my first pro victory in a stage race. The few races I've won were one-day races. It has a special taste. I enjoy it because this is my first competition after my break post-Paris-Roubaix and I haven't trained with intensity yet, so I'm delighted with my condition and my result."

Another Belgian made an interesting move as best young rider Tom van Aesbroeck from Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise – the same team Vanmarcke turned pro with before joining Garmin and then Belkin – rode away from the bunch before the first hot spot sprint at kilometer 27. Three riders from Norwegian continental teams, Christer Jensen (Motiv 3), Jan Marcus Faaglum Karlsson (Team Ringeriks Kraft) and Amund Groendahl (Team Sparenbanken Sør), reached him to form a quartet at the front.

After winning the second hot spot sprint, Van Aesbroeck was asked by his sports director to wait for the peloton. "It cost me a lot of energy," noted the Belgian who struggled to stay in the main bunch but managed to do it and retained the white jersey. Karlsson was the last attacker away when the race became decisive in the final climb, a long one (15km) but not very steep and a finish at the altitude of 600 metres.

A front group was formed by Vanmarcke and Stef Clement (Belkin), Jaroslaw Marycz (CCC Polsat), Gatis Smukulis (Katusha) and Gustav Larsson (IAM Cycling). "There wasn't a lot of cooperation from the other riders but Stef was very strong when the race was getting hard in the last climb," said Vanmarcke. "Stef told me to go for the sprint while other guys were good on GC, so they kept riding."

As the peloton eventually came close to the escapees, Larsson missed out on the yellow jersey by six seconds. "I tried my luck but I didn't know what I could achieve really," the Swede commented. "I came here to prepare for the Dauphiné but I felt I had good legs since the start of the Tour of Norway. I'm eager to give everything in tomorrow's stage."

As Vanmarcke underlined, Belkin hasn't said their last word as Lars-Petter Nordhaug and Bauke Mollema remain in contention for the overall victory but it might as well come down to a duel between De Maar and Larsson. The race leader said he became a few years older because of the energy he spent in the last few kilometers in the defense of the yellow jersey.

"It was a little bit of a gambling," De Maar told Cyclingnews. "My teammates had worked all day and I was by myself at the end. The last climb wasn't very steep. It made it difficult to cover every move. I made a little mistake to let Larsson up the road but we came across pretty close. I enjoy this moment as a race leader. I'm one day closer to the victory but tomorrow is the hardest day."

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