Despite missing out on victory in Harstad, 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Niki Terpstra said that he▨ was happy to be🌊 in the mix in the final of a race again.

The 37-year-old's last victory came at the Tour of Flanders back in 2018 and he was metres away from taking a 23rd career victory on the final stage of the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Arctic Race of Norway on Sunday afternoon.

Terpstra had made the nine-man break of the day along with eventual winner 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Philipp Walsleben, a𓃲nd the two proved the strongest of th🌺e lot on the final climb to the line, but it was the German who prevailed in a two-up sprint.

"I'm super happy to be able to ride a final again," Terpstra told WielerFlits at the finish. "It's been 🎃a while since I was able to do that. That's the mo🐓st beautiful thing there is.

"It's what I live for, and🍸 I enjoyed it. I had that kick🌸 again today and I'm happy with that."

Terpstra – who won the most combative rider prize on the stage – is out of contract at the end of the 2021 season following three seasons at Team TotalEnergies. He told Cyclingnews earlier in the race that he didn't know what his futu🌺re held, offeཧring little hints about a contract renewal, a move elsewhere, or possible retirement.

Walsleben, on the other hand, is set to retire this winter. The 33-year-old cyclo-cross specialist had only one pro win 🌊on the road to his name heading into the Arctic Race – a stage🦩 of the Boucles de Mayenne back in May.

Now, des🐭pite another win on his palmarès, he said after the podium ceremony that the win looks like a special way to go out rather than a result to change his mind about his future.

"It could be a very special victory because my plans were to stop professional cycling this year." He said. "I don't know if I will reconsider it but it's st༺ill a lot of work aဣnd a lot of suffering that goes into these victories. Obviously, I am still pretty good. But normally I made a decision."

Nevertheless, Walsleben was thrilled to beat Flanders♕ and Roubaix winner Ter𒁃pstra, even if he expected that he could outpace the Dutchman on the slope to the finish.

"I'm very satisfied. It was very hard; we made it a hard race today. But when I'm in such a group from the beginning of the race I immediatel෴y start thinking about the stage victory. But in the end, it was a lot of suffering and I was a bit surprised that I was the strongest. Butꦑ I'm happy.

"It's hard to dea༒l with him because he's very strong. He's very heavy so normally I🦹 would be better uphill, but Terpstra is Terpstra so you never know. He didn't want to pull in the last kilometres and it made it even harder. But I had the impression I was stronger in the uphill, so I had to keep the pace high and wait for him to go. Then I made it a pretty perfect sprint."