For the second year in a row, the finishing circuit in Sarpsborg saw a solo attack as Alice Barnes (Canyon-SRAM) moved off the front of the peloton as soon it had reached the finish town on stage 3 of the Tour of Scandinavia. The 27-year-old British rider counterattacked when another move had been brought back and quickly increased her gap.
"There were a lot of attacks coming into the finishing circuits and I saw a good moment to go, so I took it to put our team on the front foot. Of course, once I was in that situation, I gave it everything as there isn't any point in holding back. I think it was a good situation for my teammates behind to position themselves and be able to follow," Barnes explained to Cyclingnews.
In 2021, Kristen Faulkner (then Team TIBCO-SVB) had done the same and could just hold off the sprinters on the uphill finishing straight to win the stage. Barnes had no such luck: Although she kept her advantage steady at just over 20 seconds for a lap and a half, attacks from Trek-Segafredo's Lucinda Brand and Lauretta Hanson pushed the speed in the peloton even higher, and Barnes was reeled in right after the start of the last 6.7-kilometre lap.
"It would have only taken a bit of hesitation from the bunch and the gap could have grown quickly. When I was caught, it allowed me enough time to recover and then still be able to help the team with positioning for the finish," she said.
With Barnes caught, the team coalesced around Shari Bossuyt who sprinted to third place on the stage and moved up to second place overall, 22 seconds behind stage winner Marianne Vos (Team Jumbo-Visma).
