News: Tour of Norway Stage 1

On the first stage of the Tour of Norway, Britain’s Olympic hero Ethan Hayter won the stage on top of a climb whilst James Shaw (Ribble Weldtite) with limited racing of late, showed just how strong he is with 5th place.

News: Tour of Norway Stage 1

Ethan Hayter: “I knew that I’d just got a Silver medal in the Olympics so I’m going quite well, but it’s a surprise. I had a few days off and a couple of good days training in rainy Manchester and that seems to have set me up well for today.

“It’s crazy. It was a really hard day in the end. I felt alright at times but was suffering during certain sections of the race – but then I think everyone was. The breakaway was really strong and thankfully it just worked out in the finish. I can’t believe it.”

“I dropped down halfway up the climb and we got back on because they were looking at each other a bit. I saw Ide [Schelling] lining up his attack and when he went I hesitated a little bit, but still jumped after him and there was nobody behind. He was going really well and I couldn’t really give him a turn to be honest. He rode for GC time which was perfect for me.
“It’s an incredible place and this is now my fifth road victory this year. It’s great.”

THE STAGE: The opening stage up to Sokndal finished atop a five kilometre climb and Hayter rode the first half at his own pace, with teammate Filippo Ganna riding smartly to reel in the early attackers and set Hayter up. Ganna – also racing on the road for the first time since his Gold medal on the track in Tokyo – looked imperious as he rode down the climbers, bringing the reduced bunch back together again with 2km to race.

It was then that Ide Schelling (Bora-Hansgrohe) attacked, with Hayter the only rider able to follow. He quickly got across to Schelling’s wheel before easing round him inside the final 200m. James Shaw was 13 seconds adrift in 5th showing that the faith a team has placed in him for next season (WorldTour) is well founded.

Watch a video interview with James Shaw last Sunday before the Lancaster GP

RESULT

1. Ethan Hayter INEOS Grenadiers 03:44:30
2. Ide Schelling BORA-hansgrohe + 01
3. Torstein Træen Uno-X Pro Cycling Team + 11
4. Mattias Skjelmose Jensen Trek-Segafredo + 13
5. James Shaw Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling
6. Filippo Ganna INEOS Grenadiers
7. Mike Teunissen Jumbo-Visma
8. Kristian Aasvold Team Coop
9. Markus Hoelgaard Uno-X Pro Cycling Team
10. Lucas Eriksson Riwal Cycling Team

16. Mark Donovan Team DSM + 24
33. Oscar Onley Team DSM + 01:02
47. Luke Rowe INEOS Grenadiers + 04:21
48. Ben Swift INEOS Grenadiers
72. Gruff Lewis Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling + 08:06
79. Leo Hayter Team DSM + 08:23
93. Matthew Walls BORA-hansgrohe + 13:16
94. Matthew Gibson Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling
95. Charles Page Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling
96. Simon Wilson Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling

FULL RESULTS ARE HERE – CLICK