Arctic Race of Norway. Alexey Lutsenko is 3rd at Queen Stage

After a big battle on the steepest slopes of the final climb, Alexey Lutsenko finished 3rd, behind the stage winner Odd Christian Eiking.

«The last climb was very tough; it was all about the legs and I just gave my all pushing as hard as possible. I finished third, but I have no regret as I did my best. I want to thank the whole team for today, the guys did absolutely amazing job for me. Yuriy Natarov was one of the strongest today, pulling all day long in front of the peloton and chasing the break. Also, in the final I’ve got a big help from Hugo Houle, that was great! Yeah, it was the queen stage, but not the last one. We still have another day tomorrow and I think we still have the chances to try something. For sure we will keep on fighting!» said Alexey Lutsenko.

Controlling the race and chasing the daily breakaway back, Astana Pro Team prepared for Alexey Lutsenko a good position at the bottom of the last climb. Then, Lutsenko did a strong move and only three riders could follow him: Odd Christian Eiking, Warren Barguil and another Astana’s rider Hugo Houle.

Houle did a great job in front of the leading group setting the pace until 1.2 km to go. The Kazakh champion tried to attack, but both rivals were able to answer to that move. Three leaders reached the last 400 meters of the distance all together and then Eiking launched a strong counterattack to win the stage. Barguil finished 5 seconds behind Eiking, while Lutsenko closed the Top-3 of the stage 13 seconds behind the stage winner. Hugo Houle was 6th, while Magnus Cort did 10th.

With only one stage to go Alexey Lutsenko is second in the general classification, just 3 seconds behind Barguil, the new overall leader. Hugo Houle is now 5th (+0.30) and Magnus Cort is 6th (+0.35). Astana leads the team’s classification.

The final, 4th stage of the race will be held tomorrow: 165.5 km from Lødingen to Narvik.