Tomorrow, stage 3 - Hamar - Lillehammer (192 km)
probably the king stage of this Tour of Norway.
The profile includes a finish that was used in the national championship 2 years ago, won by (you guessed) it Lillehammer homeboy -
Edvald Boasson Hagen! Now you might think that being the local lad, he'll be a favorite this time. However, is not
the local lad at all because the race actually laps the farm of
Anders Skaarseth's family. You can't get more local than that!
The main feature of the finish is the Kanthaugen climb (to up above the olympic ski jump hills from 1992). It is the snaking one on the right in the google earth image below. They'll be going up the Kanthaugen three times, entering the loop course at about 80 km to go.
If we zoom in on some details here
One can only wonder why
did not bring Primoz Roglic as one can hardly find any terrain anywhere better suited to his capabilities. He could be flying on the descent here. Instead
is stuck with flatlanders Boom and Groenewegen - failed landing!
The finishing loop is some ~27km. The road up to Kanthaugen is called VIP road 3,2 km @ 8% average inclination and AFAIK it is partly gravel. Three times. From the top of Kanthaugen to the finish line is a not very technical descent followed by a longer flat section across the Lågen river and along the lake. They cross the lake and climb a little bit back into town for the finish line (i can't find exactly where it is but it is uphill from the lake to the finish line, maybe flat right at the line.
In the national championship two years ago, it was a very exiting race with Vegard Stake Laengen (currently
, then
) on a long-range attack caught just before the finish line by a
Edvald Boasson Hagen - because of
Svein Erik Bystrøm, who worked hard on the chase but wasn't able to compete for the finish. A similar race, hanging in the balance between attacking climbers and fast finishers with some support on the chase, is expected.
favorites:
Tony Gallopin because of his allrounder skills
Edvald Boasson Hagen (he's gonna need someone, probably Nyonshuti to chase down the attacking climberS)
Pieter Weening (will need a large enough gap at the top of Kanthaugen)
Lars Petter Nordhaug will follow the flying dutchman on attacks.
Anders Skaarseth if home ground ever was an advantage. Might DNF if his mom calls him in for dinner.
