The Tour de France Femmes may be over but the racing evolution continues this week with the Tour of Scandinavia – built on the foundation of the Ladies Tour of Norway.
The new six-stage race will take riders through Denmark, along the coast of Sweden, and into Norway from Tuesday August 9 to Sunday August 14, delivering further opportunities for general classification riders to extend themselves in a growing Women’s WorldTour calendar.
The race will take the peloton from Copenhagen to the Swedish coast and then the route will hark back to familiar territory from the former four-day Ladies Tour of Norway.
The racing will head from the coastal town of Moss, further inland to Mysen and then onto the climb to Norefjell, likely to be pivotal in the competition for the general classification. The first overall victor will then be crowned in Halden.
After taking on the Giro d’Italia Donne and Tour de France Femmes combination, and winning both, last year’s Tour of Norway winner Annemiek van Vleuten will be absent from the race. Demi Vollering (SD Worx), however, started her run at the Tour de France Femmes, where she came second, so will be taking to the start line for the first Tour of Scandinavia as a key favourite.
Also sure to attract plenty of attention will be Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-SUEZ–Futuroscope) who’ll have the rare opportunity to set off in front of a home crowd, with the Copenhagen start marking the beginning of the first Women’s WorldTour racing in Denmark.
Some riders will be looking for the Tour of Scandinavia to deliver the hoped-for results the French tour didn’t and others who missed out altogether will be hoping to prove their stage racing prowess so the same doesn’t happen next year.
The biggest motivator, however, will of course be chasing the first ever Tour of Scandinavia crown and another chance to mark the name in the history books as part of the ever-growing chapter on women’s cycling.
The contenders
With last year’s Tour of Norway winner, Van Vleuten, absent, there is no looking past the rider who came second to her at the Tour de France: Demi Vollering (SD Worx).
The 25-year-old wasn’t on the start line in 2021, so we haven’t got to see how she fares specifically on the ascent to Norefjell, but from what we’ve seen in recent weeks she is clearly carrying the best climbing form of any of the riders on the start list,…
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