Results Arctic Race of Norway 2026 Stage 3 - Guillermo Thomas Silva seizes yellow with stunning queen stage victory as GC battle explodes on Storheia
Cycling
Guillermo Thomas Silva won the queen stage of the 2026 Arctic Race of Norway with a perfectly timed counter-attack on Storheia, responding to a late acceleration from pre-stage favourite Lennert Van Eetvelt before riding clear in the final few hundred metres.
Van Eetvelt had launched with around 400 metres remaining and initially took Silva, Alessandro Pinarello and Robbe Dhondt with him.
Pinarello and Dhondt were unable to hold the pace, but Silva stayed close enough to counter almost immediately and opened the decisive gap on the Belgian.
The XDS Astana rider crossed the line alone to take both the stage victory and the overall race lead. Van Eetvelt finished second on the same time, while Pinarello came home nine seconds later in third. Dhondt completed the top four.
Silva turns Van Eetvelt attack into winning move
The final 3.4km climb to Storheia had been expected to provide the first major GC selection after two sprint stages, but the steepest lower section did not immediately split the favourites as decisively as anticipated.
TotalEnergies were among the first to attack once the race hit the climb, while Team Picnic PostNL later kept the pressure on through Bert Bolle. The front group remained sizeable for much of the ascent, with Van Eetvelt, Silva, Pinarello, Felix Engelhardt and several other GC contenders still together as the gradients began to ease closer to the summit.
Wout Poels started to struggle inside the final kilometre, while Fabio Christen was also dropped as the pace increased. A brief lull then allowed several riders to regain contact before Van Eetvelt finally made the move that appeared set to decide the stage.
Silva had other ideas. He matched the acceleration, watched Pinarello and Dhondt lose contact, and then attacked over the top of Van Eetvelt's effort to take control of the final few hundred metres. Van Eetvelt could not respond a second time, leaving Silva to celebrate the biggest result of the day at the summit.
The victory also overturned the general classification. Silva had started the stage eight seconds behind Giovanni Lonardi, while Van Eetvelt began 14 seconds down. With Silva taking the 10-second winner's bonus and Van Eetvelt collecting six seconds for second place, the Uruguayan moved into the race lead with a 10-second advantage over the Belgian ahead of the final stage.
Early break swept up before final climb
The opening kilometres had been comparatively quiet for a queen stage. Eirik Vang Aas, Thomas Eriksen, Aksel Laforce, Axel Kallberg and Morthen Wang Baksaas escaped almost immediately and were never given enough freedom to threaten the eventual outcome.
Vang Aas and Baksaas used the move to continue their mountains classification battle before dropping back, leaving Eriksen, Laforce and Kallberg ahead. Kallberg later went solo and became the final survivor, but he was caught shortly before Storheia as the GC teams began fighting for position.
Giovanni Lonardi, who had worn yellow through the opening two sprint stages, was among the riders distanced before the final climb. By the summit the race had been transformed completely, with Silva emerging from the first major mountain test as both stage winner and the man to beat for overall victory.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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