Guarnier's patience pays with podium spot in Norway

Megan Guarnier (Boels Dolmans) put all the pieces together on Sunday in Norway, taking out the final stage in a hectic bunch sprint and climbing from fourth to second overall.

Guarnier made the select final group in the 156.6km Ladies Tour of Norway stage from Svinesund to Halden, then slung herself past Ellan van Dijk (Team Sunweb) through the final corner to take the victory. The 10-second time bonus to the stage winner moved her within 13 seconds of overall winner Marianne Vos (WM3), who was third on the final stage. Van Dijk finished second on Sunday and third overall.

“The team tried the whole week for intermediate sprints because we knew it would come down to seconds,” said Guarnier, who won the inaugural women’s WorldTour last year. “I’m glad that work paid off in a small way.

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“It was nice to have Christine [Majerus] on the podium in stage 1,” Guarnier said. “As always, we stayed motivated in the race, and I’m happy we could take the top step on the final stage and get on the general classification podium. It really was a team effort.”

Guarnier finished fifth in Thursday’s opening prologue, tackling the 3.4km blast in Halden just four seconds behind winner Van Dijk. She finished 20th on the first road stage and 23rd on stage 2, going into Sunday’s finale fourth overall, 17 seconds behind Vos and 12 seconds behind Jolien D’Hoore (Wiggle High5) and Van Dijk.

On Sunday, Guarnier bided her time in the group during the aggressive first half of the day, then waited until her teammates and others reeled in the trio of breakaway riders one at a time.

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