Norway’s inaugural L’Etape Trondheim by Tour de France produced an instant classic on Saturday, as Eirik Vang Aas — a 24-year-old development-level professional with Team Drali – Repsol — outsprinted Jonas Abrahamsen on the line to claim the 130 km long-route title. Abrahamsen, winner of a stage at the 2025 Tour de France and the 2024 Brussels Cycling Classic with WorldTeam Uno-X Mobility, was beaten by a rider two tiers below him on cycling’s professional ladder.
The irony was difficult to ignore. Abrahamsen won the 2017 L’Etape du Tour — the very series whose Norwegian debut he was now contesting — before climbing through the ranks to become one of Norway’s most dangerous riders. Nicknamed “The Grenland Plow,” the 30-year-old from Skien is known as a rouleur and breakaway specialist with proven WorldTour pedigree. None of it proved decisive on Saturday.
Vang Aas, whose best results include a stage victory at the 2025 Circuit des Ardennes and two podium finishes at the Tour of Lithuania, matched Abrahamsen over 130 km and 1,600 metres of climbing around the roads of Trondheimsfjord before winning the sprint to the line. Both riders finished in 02:54:00. Peder Dahl Strand of Tiller completed the podium at 1 minute 33 seconds.
The women’s 130 km race offered no such suspense — only outright dominance. Oda Aune Gissinger crossed the line in 03:07:05, finishing 13 minutes 35 seconds ahead of Oslo’s Grete Skaret Larsen. Jannicke Sahl, also from Oslo, took third at 20 minutes 3 seconds.
Gissinger’s margin was even more remarkable given her age and background. The 19-year-old already rides professionally for Hitec Products – Fluid Control and has claimed stage victories at the 2026 BIWASE Tour of Vietnam and Tour de Feminin. In her first year of cycling, she won bronze in the Junior Women’s ITT at the UCI World Championships — and Saturday’s performance suggested there is still far more to come.
On the 75 km short route, Oliver Skavdal-Sand claimed the men’s title in 01:57:01, with Erling August Eriksen second at 11 minutes 29 seconds and Frenchman Raphaël Alapetite third at 11 minutes 43 seconds. Elin Grønvik won the women’s 75 km in 02:19:42, ahead of Helene Ulseth at 5 minutes 8 seconds and Kine Førsvoll at 6 minutes 47 seconds.
More than 3,500 riders entered the first L’Etape Series event ever held in Norway, with organisers targeting a future Tour de France stage in Trondheim by 2030. On Saturday’s evidence, the appetite is there. So too is the talent.
Photo Credit: L’Etape Trondheim
© 2026 Copyright Gran Fondo Daily News – All Rights Reserved