For the fourth day running, the Deceuninck – Quick-Step riders were prominent at the front of the race.
On Friday, the peloton journeyed from Arendal to Sandefjord on the longest stage of the ninth edition, which featured a string of short climbs and another undulating circuit that whittled down the bunch by the time they arrived in the last 20 kilometers of the day. Five escapees were still in the lead, after snapping the elastic at the start of the day, with several teams, including Deceuninck – Quick-Step, exchanging turns at the head of the single-file bunch.
After neo-pro Remco Evenepoel peeled off the front, Petr Vakoč put in a probing attack, moving away together with one other rider, but the peloton reacted and hauled them back. The former Czech champion’s move wasn’t fruitless, as it forced the pack to up the tempo and close in on the escapees, whose buffer was a dangerous one GC wise. Despite missing out on catching them before the finish, where Edoardo Affini (Mitchelton-Scott) prevailed, the field narrowed the gap down to a few seconds, in part also thanks to Tim Declercq’s selfless effort.
Belgian Champion Yves Lampaert, who has recently returned to racing following a solid Spring Classics campaign, sprinted on the finishing straight in Sandefjord – where the race arrived for the first time since its inception – and took seventh, remaining the best placed Deceuninck – Quick-Step rider in the general classification with two days to go.
Photo credit: ©Luc Claessen/ Getty Images
