"I did not ride alone today" - Kamiel Bonneu dedicates stage victory in Norway to his grandfather who passed away a day earlier

The 25-year-old Kamiel Bonneu has only won his third professional race at the Arctic Race of Norway on Tuesday. Immediately after his victory, the young Belgian from Team Flanders - Baloise broke into tears. Tears of happiness? Not quite. Turns out Bonneu's victory was a way to tribute his late grandfather who apparently brought Bonneu to cycling.

"Yesterday I heard that my grandfather had died," Bonneu later said in a flash interview. "He was actually the reason I started cycling. It was not an option for me to go home, I wanted to give everything today. I knew I was in good shape, that I had a small chance of winning a stage. But everything had to fall into place. I did not ride alone today. I lost both my grandfathers in three months, I hope they watched together."

On the climb to Jakobsbakken, Bonneu chose the right moment to make his move, countering Davide De Pretto who had attacked moments earlier. "I had looked at the course and knew that the first two kilometers of the climb were the hardest. For me it was better to go full throttle there, because I had no chance in the sprint. I saw that no one reacted to him, I still had something left and wanted to make the jump to make the race hard. After that it was full throttle to the finish. I accelerated a bit when I saw that he was on the limit and that was enough."

In the provisional classification, Bonneu is now only one second behind Magnus Cort, the new leader. "Tomorrow I will give it my all again. I will not beat him in a bonus sprint so I will have to do it at the finish. A climb like that suits him better, but I will give it my all and am already happy with the victory," he concluded.