Rally Cycling’s Colin Joyce sprinted to seventh place on stage three of the Arctic Race of Norway. A day after his historic victory in Kjøllefjord, the Idaho native was well protected by his teammates for his third-straight top 10 finish of the week. Joyce now sits third in the overall and second in the Young Rider classification. Robin Carpenter was part of the day’s main breakaway and was reeled in by the peloton within sight of the finish line.
“I’m happy to be up there again,” said Joyce. “It was a really hard sprint after going flat out for 600 meters uphill, then a 400 meter false flat to the line. The team is riding great and we’re excited for tomorrow’s stage, to defend our position in the overall, and fight to the end!
With Carpenter up the road the whole stage, the team could follow wheels in the peloton and look after Joyce. It looked like Carpenter’s move would stick until the finish straight, where the charging peloton overtook him.
“I’m super bummed for Robin to just miss out on the stage win,” said Joyce. “He’s so strong and was so close. I got a lot of help from all the guys throughout the day since we didn’t have to ride the front. It was critical to have Ryan Anderson selling out on the final circuits to help get me to the pointy end of the race. The whole team is riding strong and I am so stoked on all of their hard work, so thanks to them!”
Known for his aggressive style throughout the European campaign, Carpenter was once again turning the screws on his breakaway companions during the stage. He came close to victory in Denmark and then again in the Netherlands, but stage three’s catch was heartbreaking for Carpenter.
“I’m definitely disappointed as I knew we had a good time buffer and I was able to stay with the strongest guys from the breakaway,” said Carpenter. “I actually thought we were going to be caught so I committed 100% with 800 meters to go. I gave it everything to stay out front but in the end, I got caught with 50 m to go, watching the other guy put his hands up. But it’s still good to show that we belong here and want to race hard.”
The Arctic Race of Norway’s final stage to Alta may be the shortest at only 145 km, but the finishing circuits pack a punch including the challenging category two ascent of Thomasbakken. Rally Cycling will ride to not only protect Colin Joyce’s third place in the overall but to move him into the yellow jersey.
Stage three results
1 Adam Toupalik (Cze) Corendon-Circus 4:24:08
2 Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Corendon-Circus 0:00:02
3 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team
4 Quentin Pacher (Fra) Vital Concept Club
5 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Wanty-Groupe Gobert
6 Markus Hoelgaard (Nor) Joker Icopal
7 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling
8 Benjamin Declercq (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
9 Kevin Deltombe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
10 Nicolai Brøchner (Den) Holowesko-Citadel p/b Arapahoe Resources
General Classification after stage three
1 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team 12:34:40
2 Markus Hoelgaard (Nor) Joker Icopal 0:00:07
3 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling 0:00:08
4 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:00:23
5 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team 0:00:37
Young Rider Classification
1 Markus Hoelgaard (Nor) Joker Icopal 12:34:47
2 Colin Joyce (USA) Rally Cycling 0:00:01
3 Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:31
