Thomas Silva continues to soar on the wings of enthusiasm. On the grueling finish at Storheia, the stage finish of the third stage of the Arctic Race of Norway, the Uruguayan from XDS Astana has indeed secured his seventh success of a remarkable season, demonstrating that he is now on familiar terms with victory and is also capable of imposing himself at the end of finales that, as he himself stated in the post-stage interview, until today did not seem to be among his strengths.

"I'm super happy because I managed to win on a finish like today's that wasn't the most suited to my characteristics and this gives me a lot of confidence for the remaining part of the season still to be contested" said the satisfied twenty-four-year-old from Maldonado, who was clever to strike at just the right moment and to resist, in the final meters, the comeback attempt of Lennert Van Eetvelt.

"It was a very hard climb for me, but I believe I managed it as best as I could. Obviously there were probably riders more suited for this kind of finish, but I played my cards well and managed to get a victory that doesn't matter whether it came by a little or a lot because, in the end, it's still a victory" Silva clarified, moving to the top of the general classification that tomorrow he will try to bring home by navigating the pitfalls of the final stage towards Narvik.

"It will be a long day, but on paper it probably suits my characteristics better than today's so we'll mainly try to control the race and arrive at the finish with the possibility of playing for another success".

Potentially decisive, looking at the gaps that matured today and those (on paper always limited) that could develop tomorrow, could turn out to be the bonus seconds that, in addition to today's finish, Silva went and claimed with determination also twenty-four hours ago at Andenes.

"Yesterday we tried to gain six seconds at the intermediate sprint to have a bit more of a margin; today we managed to win and gain ten of them so we face tomorrow's stage differently, but obviously we'll try to maintain the jersey all the way to the end" explained Silva, showing, together with his team, that they have studied in minute detail how to get their hands on an Arctic Race of Norway that is now truly within reach.

Photo credit: Thomas Maheux