“It’s my first time winning a pro race in Norway, so it feels amazing,” Blikra said.<\/p>\n
Latest Videos FromCyclingnews<\/p>\n
“The sprint was really long, and I was just waiting for somebody to pass me, because I was really tired in the last 100 meters or so.”<\/p>\n
The timely win comes on the last opportunity for the sprinters before the race heads into the hills for back-to-back summit finishes on the final two stages.<\/p>\n
You may like<\/p>\n
“I was really motivated for today. Yesterday I had some confidence with my fourth place, and I knew I was one of the fastest guys, but I really wanted to improve on that. I think racing on home soil just gives me extra motivation,” Blikra said.<\/p>\n
\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jYj4Z8vnnBktAk2cHDNwsF.jpg\")
\n<\/p>\n
(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n
It was a cool, drizzly day for stage 2 of the Arctic Race of Norway, a 180-kilometre relatively flat stage from B\u00f8 i Vester\u00e5len to Andenes in the far North of the Vester\u00e5len archipelago. There wasn’t much resistance to the early breakaway of four including Joseba L\u00f3pez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Victor Vercouillie (Flanders-Baloise), Ludvik Holstad (Ringerike), Simen Evertsen-Hegreberg (Lillehammer CK).<\/p>\n
The sprinters’ teams kept the move from gaining much more than 90 seconds, and even with the arrival of a reinforcement in Evertsen-Hegreberg’s teammate Herman Eriksen, the gap remained steady until the final 30 kilometres.<\/p>\n
With 12km to go, the peloton had the quintet in their sights as the road twisted and turned around the rugged coastline and onto the two finishing circuits in Andenes. A few tight corners gave the breakaway some more time out front, but they were eventually swept up into the peloton with 7.5km to go.<\/p>\n
Lotto-Intermarch\u00e9, NSN and Uno-X Mobility battled for the lead of the peloton into the final kilometre, keeping stage 1 winner Lonardi at bay. Blikra proved to be the strongest in the drag race to the line.<\/p>\n