Israel – Premier Tech‘s Corbin Strong has punched his way to victory in a wet, uphill sprint on stage 1 of the 2025 Arctic Race of Norway ahead of Riley Sheehan, completing a one-two finish for the team.

A four-man group got clear of the peloton to form the breakaway in the early part of the stage. Romain Combaud (Team Picnic PostNL) and Abram Stockman (Unibet Tietema Rockets) were joined by the Norwegian duo of Vetle Torin Eskedal and Storm Ingebrigtsen, the latter of whom was recently announced as an Uno-X Mobility signing for next season. The peloton were keeping things incredibly tight though, not allowing much more than a minute of advantage to the breakaway early on. Because of this small gap, a counter-move by Fredrik Dversnes and Georg Rydningen Martinsen increased the numbers of the break to six. 

With 30km to go, all the attackers had been caught by the peloton. Although a bunch finish looked a certainty from there, not all were content to wait for that inevitable outcome. Mats Wenzel of Equipo Kern Pharma even attempted a lone flyer, but was reeled back inside the final 15km. Even with the Dutchman’s attack over however, the racing wasn’t finished yet. 

The next move saw a trio of Yentl Vandevelde, Sven Erik Bystrom and Eirik Vang Aas enter the last 5km with a small lead. They too though, saw their move quickly ended by the peloton. In the uphill sprint to the line, it was then Corbin Strong who took the win ahead of his own teammate Riley Sheehan.