Arctic Shtick: Salmon no distraction for King Kristoff

Breathtaking terrain, fantastic fjords and roving reindeer offer an otherworldly backdrop as 130 riders from 22 teams do battle some 400 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle in the third edition of what was ASO's newest short stage race until the Tour of Yorkshire appeared for the first time on our calendar this May.

The likes of Sagan, Bouhanni and Costa are all tackling the Arctic Race of Norway - although it's worth adding that's not Peter, Nacer and Rui strutting their stuff for Tinkoff-Saxo, Cofidis and Lampre-Merida respectively, but their less illustrious brothers Juraj, Rayane and Mario.

With inaugural 2013 Viking victor Thor Hushovd now retired and last year's Dutch winner Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) not back to defend his crown, the four-day event will see yet another champion stand aloft the podium when the race concludes in the coastal town of Narvik on Sunday.

So without further ado, let's take a look at our blogger's behind-the-scenes observations from the 2015 Arctic Race of Norway...

Eight big name riders - including star Norwegian duo Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhubeka) took to air ahead of the opening day with a series of helicopter rides above the coastal town of Harstad.

Spunky French youngster Bryan Coquard (Europcar) put sponsor-searching team manager Jean-Rene Bernaudeau on hold while he joined Estonia's Rein Taaramae (Astana) and our very own Blazin' Saddles in the cock-pit.

It was Coquard's first ride in a chopper - and it all clearly went to his head. On landing he told assorted media that he hoped to win at least one stage in Norway, although a day later he was dropped near the finish of the opening stage (won by that man Kristoff). 24 hours after that, the 23-year-old could only muster 11th place on the race's only flat finish...

One rider whose smile is as certain as the presence of hair on his upper lip is Colombian climber Jose Serpa, who arrived in the Arctic firmly in tourist mode - complete with the kind of ubiquitous spectator accessory banned in many sporting theatres.

Meanwhile, Belgian Pro-Continental outfit Topsport Vlaanderen almost missed their slot in the team presentation after inexplicably getting stuck in a revolving door.

This year's king of the mountains jersey has taken on an orange, scaly hue after a sponsorship deal with the Norwegian salmon farmers' union. To get things off to a smoking start, a special prize was up for grabs after the opening stage of the race on Thursday.

Quite apt for a Friday, things got even fruitier for fish fans in stage two when a break of four riders battled it out for an off-the-scales delivery of salmon over the fifth and final categorised climb of the day.

Making those oft-seen prizes of a rider's weight in cheese/beer/bananas seem stingier than Andre Greipel during his Just Giving campaign in July, Norway's salmon farmers promised to deliver fish weighing around eight times your average cyclist to the winner.

"I'm going to give much pleasure to all my family, friends and team-mates," Frenchman Bideau said (when asked what he would do with his prize).

"I'm told it's even more impressive than the Souvenir Henri Desgrange in the Tour de France," he added.

Of course, it's all fine and dandy coming home from the Arctic with several suitcases full of salmon - but most riders (Carlos Betancur and Danilo Napolitano aside) would trade all the fish of Finnmark for a stage win.

Just ask Alexander Kristoff, who picked up where he left off with a victory in the opening 213km stage to and from Harstad. Despite Katusha riding with just five men, Kristoff put his Tour de France woes behind him with a comprehensive victory over compatriot Edvald Boasson Hagen on a punchy uphill finish.

Interestingly, 18 of Kristoff's 41 career pro wins have now come on home soil - either in the Tour of Norway (seven), the Tour des Fjords (eight) or the Arctic Race of Norway (three).

Having upgraded his duel diamond studs to a pair of golden hoops for this, his second successive appearance in the Arctic Race, Ireland's Sam Bennett built on his impressive third place in Harstad to soar to victory at the military base at Setermoen for stage two.

Bennett's fourth win of the season was not bad going for a rider who considered throwing in the towel on a steep rise 10km from the finish. "I was getting dropped and I was thinking 'I don't have the legs to sprint, I don't want to sprint', but Zak [Depmster] yelled at me to just try."

In the absence of a picture of Bennett and his trademark earrings, you'll have to do with a couple of snaps from the morning's media pack visit to the famous Adolf Gun at Trondenes in Harstad (apologies for autocorrect's rogue apostrophe).

That said, the apostrophe bungle is not half as bad as the photoshop fail that seems to pitted one of Andre Greipel's thighs against another belonging to Roman Bardet...