XDS Astana's Silva wins Queen Stage

After relatively moderate terrain for most of the day, the stage finished with a demanding 3.5-kilometre climb to 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.

“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.

As reported earlier, XDS Astana Team competes in the 2.Pro stage race, Arctic Race of Norway, from August 13th to 16th.