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Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,

Sunday, August, 16, 2026

Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary | Our YouTube page

I know nothing, except the fact of my ignorance. - Diogenes

Bill and Carol McGann's book The Story of the Giro d'Italia, A Year-by-Year History of the Tour of Italy, Vol 1: 1909 - 1970 is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Current racing:

• August 13 - 18: Arctic Race of Norway
• August 16: Cyclassics Hamburg
• August 16: La Polynormande

Upcoming racing:

• August 18 - 21: Tour du Limousin-Périgord
• August 19 - 23: Renewi Tour
• August 22 - Sept 13: Vuelta a España

Latest completed racing:

• August 3 - 9: Tour of Poland
• August 4 - 8: Vuelta a Burgos
• July 29 - August 2: Tour of Denmark
• August 2: Circuito de Getxo
• August 1: Clasica San Sebastian
• July 28 - 30: Tour de l'Ain
• July 4 - 26: Tour de France
• July 26: Vuelta a Castilla y Leon
• July 8 - 12: Tour of Austria
• June 24 - 28: National Championshps
• June 17 - 21: Tour de Suisse
• June 17 - 21: Baloise Belgium Tour

Following Fin Tarling’s tragic passing, the NSN Development Team has withdrawn from the remaining Volta a Portugal stages.

With the full support of Fin’s parents, the WorldTour team will race on at Czech Tour and the Arctic Race of Norway.

We will continue to hold Fin in our hearts as we race in his honor, doing what he loved most.

We want to thank everyone in the cycling community and beyond for the incredible support at this difficult time.

Before the start of the third stage of the Arctic Race of Norway there was a moment of silence in memory of Finlay Tarling.

We posted the report from the race organizer with the results.

Here's the report from stage winner and new GC leader Thomas Silva's Team XDS Astana:

XDS Astana Team rider Thomas Silva claimed victory on Stage 3, the Queen Stage of the Arctic Race of Norway. After relatively moderate terrain for most of the day, the stage finished with a demanding 3.5-kilometre climb Storheia averaging 11%.

Despite a series of attacks from the group of favorites, the decisive move came only in the final kilometer. Thomas Silva launched a counterattack with 300 meters to go after Lennert Van Eetvelt accelerated, powering to a convincing stage victory and taking over the overall lead of the Norwegian stage race.

Thomas Silva wins stage three.

“We knew today's finish wasn't ideally suited to my characteristics because the final climb was long and very steep. But the team believed in me, I was feeling quite good myself, so we decided to go for the stage win, and the team gave me full support. The pace on the final climb was very high, but I chose to ride at my own rhythm until the last kilometer. Marco Schrettl stayed with me the whole time, supporting me, which helped me remain in the leading group until the finale. Then I simply gave everything I had in the final acceleration, and it was enough to win. Today is our sports director Dmitriy Fofonov's birthday, so this is a nice present for him! Tomorrow's stage and finish suit me better than today's, but it will still be a difficult race. Our goal is to keep the leader's jersey, so together with the team we will fight until the very end”, – said Thomas Silva.

Here's the Arctic Race of Norway report from Team Picnic-PostNL:

Stage 3 of the Arctic Race of Norway was the first opportunity for the punchy riders and climbers to show their hand, with the finish coming atop a 3.4-kilometre climb averaging 10.8 percent. Five riders went clear early in the stage and built an advantage of just over two minutes, but the peloton kept the breakaway on a short leash. By halfway through the stage, only three riders remained at the front.

The final breakaway rider was caught with five kilometers to go, while Team Picnic PostNL moved up towards the front ahead of the decisive climb. On the steep gradients, stagiaire Bert Bolle set a strong pace for Robbe Dhondt, who stayed towards the front throughout the climb. With the race coming down to the final few hundred meters, Silva launched his attack with 300 meters to go and held on for the win. Dhondt battled all the way to the line, finishing fourth after a strong team performance.

After the stage, Dhondt said: “As a team, we really delivered a perfect performance today. After seeing Bjorn abandon following the opening stage, we had to reset and decided to play me as the finisher today. The previous stages hadn’t gone entirely to plan, with things going wrong in the sprints, but today everyone did an incredible job. Casper brought us to the foot of the climb, Dillon then did a great job on the climb itself, and everyone was so motivated to make it work. Finally, our new rider, Bert — or ‘Bertje’, as we call him — also did a fantastic job. I felt like I had to deliver a result for the team. It’s a little disappointing not to have taken third, but fourth is still a very good result. I felt really good today, and there’s another opportunity tomorrow, so we’ll try to carry this momentum forward. We’re extremely motivated to fight for another strong result.”