From April 10th until today, after performing convincingly during the first three months of 2026, the season of Erlend Blikra has been anything but exhilarating. In succession, the twenty-nine-year-old from Stavanger found himself withdrawing from the Région Pays de la Loire Tour, an early exit (due to a crash) at the Giro d'Italia, missing the national championships, and a rather colorless Tour of Denmark (never better than twelfth place).

So the flash with which he pierced the gray sky of Andenes today came rather as a surprise, the same surprise that the Uno-X Mobility rider then admitted to having when on the final straight of the second stage of the Arctic Race of Norway no one managed to overtake him, giving him a joy (his fifth as a professional) that carries considerable weight for him.

"I had a good spring and arrived at the Giro with great ambitions, but unfortunately I broke my back on the first stage. Since then it took a long time to feel good and comfortable in the saddle again. Winning here and finally managing to get back in form means a lot to me" the Stavanger sprinter told our microphones, proving skillful in relying on all his patience to overcome a difficult moment that was also challenging from a mental perspective.

"These have been tough weeks. When your body doesn't respond as you'd like, mentally it's not the best, but I was patient, I continued to work hard on my fitness for several weeks and now here we are: I'd say it was worth it" Blikra continued, relieved, before recounting how today's sprint developed and his surprise in realizing that no one had managed to put their wheel ahead of his.

"When we passed the finish line the first time, I understood that the final straight was slightly downhill and that therefore, being a heavy sprinter, it suited me perfectly. The key, however, I think was managing to stay in the front positions in the technical part of the final circuit where then, being able to rely on a reduced number of men to launch the sprint, myself, Pedersen and Holter tried to exploit the work of the other teams as much as possible. We indeed moved first around the Lotto riders, then the Modern Adventure and finally the NSN, until we managed to launch. In this Pedersen did extraordinary work. I started quite long to be honest and at one point I expected that at any moment someone would overtake me but, in the end, no one came and that surprised me a bit".

The surprise, however, soon turned into joy and elation because, in addition to not winning for over six months, Blikra hadn't raced at home, in front of his people and his fans, for seven years: back then he still had to join Uno-X, the team to which he has today given a victory that, clearly, has a special flavor.

"Yes, I think this victory has special value also because recently I haven't had the chance to race in Norway very often. The last time I had raced a professional race here was in 2019, quite a long time ago, and I was even wearing the jersey of another team. It was time to come back and race here. Plus I know that many friends, family and Norwegians are watching this race and that certainly represents great motivation".

Who knows if, riding the wave of this much-desired success, Blikra will find new inspiration to sign not only new victories but also... new songs with the Broomwagon Passengers, the band he has been part of for years together with Henrik Schwalb, Sindre Mohr and his Unibet Rose Rockets colleague Karsten Feldmann.

"I'm not sure any of our songs is suitable for this moment. We have a song called "Ud på hekkan" but it's difficult to translate... What's important though, speaking about the band, is that it allows me mentally to do something else and not think about cycling", an aspect that, we imagine, helps and has helped Erlend regain the right serenity to return today to expressing on the pedals the power he had accustomed everyone to in the past.

Photo credit: ARN/Thomas Maheux