Thibau Nys takes the first stage of the Tour of Norway 2024 by force. An irresistible progression by Mathias Vacek put the young Belgian talent on the launching pad, and he finished to perfection by clearly imposing himself over Andre Holter (Uno-X Mobility) and Axel Laurance (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who were four seconds behind. Twelve months, almost day by day, after his first success among the pros in this very race, the young Lidl – Trek prodigy confirmed his growth with a brutal action to which his opponents could do nothing but bow. Obviously, the class of 2002 is also the first leader of the race that marks the return of Wout Van Aert (Visma|Lease a Bike), predictably far from the best today, closing at 2’52”, in 60th position, after breaking away less than two kilometers from the finish.

Stage Highlights

To the sound of attacks, a small group of 7 at the head of the race is made up: Timo Roosen (Dsm-Firmenich PostNL), Lennert Teugels (Bingoal WB), Abram Stockman (TDT-Unibet), Filip Řeha (ATT Investments), Samuel Boardman (Project Echelon Racing), Halvor Utengen Sandstad (Coop – Repsol), Eirik Vang Aas (Norway). Kept under control by the peloton, controlled by Visma | Lease a Bike and Lidl-Trek, which set a good pace from the start so as not to let them go, the attackers still managed to live most of the race in the lead, being caught only in view of the final climb.

From the foot of the final ramp, the Lidl – Trek men move perfectly, following the initial movement of the Tudor Pro Cycling, with Lukas Ericksonn raising the pace in favor of Marco Brenner. In the last kilometer, it is Frederik Dvernes (Uno-X Mobility) who raises the pace further, followed by Mathias Vacek who suddenly places his acceleration making the gap with Thibau Nys wheeling in the steepest part of the climb. A masterpiece that of the Czech champion, who puts his teammate on the launching pad, who starts 300 meters from the finish line from a privileged position. Impossible for the others to close the gap, which remained quite low thanks to the work especially of Bart Lemmen (Visma|Lease a Bike), then exhausted, thus being overtaken by Andre Holter (Uno-X Mobility) and Axel Laurance (Alpecin-Deceuninck), with the Frenchman author of a great comeback having started from a long way back after being at the flagship in the stage final.