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Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig takes over Tour of Scandinavia lead with summit finish win

Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig takes over Tour of Scandinavia lead with summit finish win

The Tour of Scandinavia held its queen stage on Saturday, with a summit finish in Norway where Dane Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig triumphed and took over the yellow jersey from triple-stage winner Marianne Vos. Canada’s Alison Jackson increased her lead in the points competition and has the green jersey wrapped up with one stage to go.

The Course

There were two wee climbs and two intermediate sprints on the way to the Norefjell ski resort. The summit finish came after 11.1 km of 5.4 percent.

Esmé Peperkamp was first to the top of the first climb, but Vos’s teammate and compatriot Amber Kraak was far ahead in the Queen of the Mountains competition. In the first intermediate sprint in Vikersund, Jackson came first.

Kraak padded her polka dot lead on Cat. 3 Åbyveien and Jackson placed second in the last intermediate sprint in Prestfoss. Jackson finished the day 14 points ahead of Vos in the green jersey race and crawled up the stairs to celebrate her accomplishment on the podium at the end of the race.

Jackson padded her lead in the points competition.

Brit Sophie Wright escaped soon after Prestfoss and was the rabbit to chase until she was caught 3 km from the start of the Norefjell climb. Movistar led the peloton onto the early slopes where the field immediately fragmented. With 7.2 km to go Vos fell away from the group.

Liane Lippert of DSM attacked with 3.1 km to climb and Ludwig, seventh place in the Tour de France Femmes, went with her. In the sprint to the line, the Dane easily beat the German. Lippert is 17 seconds behind Ludwig in the GC.

Sunday’s concluding stage is lumpy and finishes on a circuit in Halden, Norway.

2022 Tour of Scandinavia Stage 5

1) Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Denmark/FDJ-SUEZ-Futuroscope) 3:26:24
2) Liane Lippert (Germany/DSM) +0:01
3) Julie Van de Velde (Belgium/Plantur-Pura) +0:31

2022 Tour of Scandinavia GC
1) Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Denmark/FDJ-SUEZ-Futuroscope) 16:48:30
2) Liane Lippert (Germany/DSM) +0:17
3) Alexandra Manly (Australia/BikeExchange-Jayco) +0:44

Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…