News

Several of the world’s best female cyclists got a little bit of Norwegian culture during Tuesday afternoon when the organizers of the Ladies Tour of Norway took the teams and their own partners on a boat trip up the biggest locks in Europa. So even though the rain started during the evening, the cyclists were impressed about Europé’s highest looks at Brekke sluser and the beautiful Femsjøen outside Halden.

Both veteran boats MS Brekke and Turisten carried the cycling family from Tistedal to the top of the Brekke locks. The interest for the trip was so big that everybody didn’t get a place on the boats. They were taken with busses to Brekke and took the boat back to Tistedal.
At the top of the locks everybody was served Norwegian salmon and something to drink. A band was playing at the atmosphere was really good even though the rain increased and it was a grey afternoon.
The Brekke locks is one of three of its kind at Haldenkanalen. The looks were ready in 1924 and the boats are lifted nearly 27 meters. This impressed the cyclists and the partners of LToN.

Attending the trip was also people from the cities, the region and other partners and media. Norwegian TV2 made some reportage and the home favourite Emilie Moberg was of course an interesting object for the media people from Norway.
But there were also journalists from abroad and they were happy to spend the afternoon with world stars like Marianne Vos, Lotta Lepistö, Ellen Van Dijk, Kirsten Wild, Giorgia Bronzini og several others.
For the riders it was a nice break-up from the daily life of training and competitions. But from now on it’s only focus on the race. On Thursday it’s game on with the prologue in Halden!

Without the Moberg-family from Tistedal outside Halden there would have been no Ladies Tour of Norway. Father Roy Moberg is the man controlling everything and as the race director he is the captain of the ship.
But the whole family is there and daughter Emilie in Hitec Products is the big home favourite.

Nobody could believe that LToN would go from nothing to World Tour-level in just four years. But it could not have happened without the leader Roy Moberg, CEO/COO of the company Teknotherm/Eagle. He has used most of his free time (and probably a little more) working for the race.
As CEO and co-owner of Teknotherm/Eaglem he is in charge of several hundreds of employees all over the world, but his heart is – and has always been – very good planted within sports. In his own active career it was cross country skiing. Roy got to start once at the 50 km in Holmenkollen and he was one of the best in the region of Østfold.
But Østfold has little snow and is not a big region for skiing (even tough Olympic champions Vibeke Skofterud and Ola Vigen Hattestad are from here).
– I didn’t believe that I should be fighting for womens cycling at that time, says Roy.

Emilie is the star
But his daughter Emilie is today one of Norway’s best female riders and that has of course made daddy interested as well. Roy was missing a female race at high level in Norway, so together with some other cycling fans in Halden they started the Ladies Tour of Norway in the small four years ago.
– We have been lucky and got the best riders here every year. This has helped the marketing and we’ve got a reputation as a good organizer, says Roy today.
And suddenly we do have the Ladies Tour of Norway at the highest level with World Tour status for the first time. Live TV-coverage and a budget of more than 6 mio NOK – most of it fixed by volunteers.
The race is of course something extra for Emilie Moberg with the course more or less just outside her living room. It gives extra motivation and the two last years she has been on the podium on the final stage in her hometown of Halden. This has been notified by the inhabitants and the number of spectators have increased every year.
And when Emilie’s co-habitant Sondre Sørtveit got injuried and had to give up a promissing career at the Norwegian Joker-team, ”father-in-law” Roy did not waist much time before he got Sondre into the role as technical director of the race. So today Sondre is the man standing up in the first car, hoping to see his girlfriend crossing the line first!

Mamma is fixing the hotels
Emilie’s mother Gry is also occupied when LToN is coming to town. Together with Astrid Brøchner she is responsible for the logistics. A challenging task with hotels for all the teams, leaders, media, helpers and others for the cycling days in Halden and the surroundings.

Emilie’s uncle Kent is responsible for the banners in the finish area and he has several hundreds of meters with advertisement to be put up every day.

And in the last meeting we tought we heard something about some suitable tasks for grandmother and grandfather as well…

Of course we hope that you will come out to see the ladies in this years Ladies Tour of Norway. But if you don’t have the possibility to be here, there are several ways to follow the action from the first ever World Tour-race in Norway.
In Norway, the race will be transmitted live on TV2 (main channel), but you can also see LToN worldwide.

Thursday’s prologue will be possible to follow on our homepage https://www.battleofthenorth.eu/.

The stream will also be available at http://www.sport2400.com/. This is not really a full TV-production, and you will probably miss some graphics. There will not be any dedicated TV-commentators, but you will be updated by the race announcer.
That means you will have the full overview at the 3 km long prologue with start and finish at the square in the center of Halden. And if you are on site the races will be live on the big videoboard in the finish area every day.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday the stages will be live on Norwegian TV2 (main channel) with the commentators Christian Paasche and Johan Kaggestad on site.

The transmission times are as follows (local times):
Friday Aug 18th: Halden – Mysen, 16:40-18:20
Saturday Aug 19th: Sarpsborg – Fredrikstad, 16:40-18:20
Sunday Aug 20th: Svinesund – Halden, 13:30-15:20

International TV
If you are not in Norway, you will still be able to follow the Ladies Tour of Norway live.
The rights for North America belongs to FloSports.

Watch live on FloCycling here:
http://bit.ly/2tG8xeq

Even in other countries you will be able to follow LToN on the internet.
UCI (the international cycling union) will send the race live on their Youtube-channel and social medias on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Times are the same as for Norwegian TV2.

Link to UCIs homepage : http://www.uci.ch/
Link to UCIs Youtube-channel : https://www.youtube.com/user/ucichannel

You can also follow the race on our own channels on the net and in social media:
LToN on Twitter : https://twitter.com/LTour_Of_Norway
LToN on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/battleofthenorth.eu/
LToN on Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/ladies_tour_of_norway/

Times for the audience
For the audience on site, these are the right times:

Thursday August 17th:
Individual prologue in the center of Halden. The first start is at 17:00 at the square, the last finish will be just before 20:00 o’clock. The 3 km long course will cross the harbour in Halden and turn back at the Clas Ohlsson shop. The finish is by the sea, just after the riders have passed the Thon Hotell.

Friday August 18th:
The first road stage from Halden to Mysen, 101,5 km. Signing on and presentation of the riders at the square in Halden between 14:20 and 15:10. The start is at 15:20 and the riders will enter the final circuit between 17:21 and 17:32. After the three final laps they will finish outside Festiviteten in Mysen around 17:48-18:02.

Saturday August 19th:
140,1 km between Sarpsborg and Fredrikstad. The start will take place from the Hafslund Manor. The riders presententation and signing on will be between 13:20-14:10. The riders will start at 14:20 and the finish willbe at Tollbodbrygga in Fredrikstad. They will enter the final circuit between 17:08-17:24, and also here they will do three final laps. Finish estimated to 17:46-18:05.

Sundag August 20th:
The last stage is also the longest with 156,6 km. The start takes place at the old Svinesund bridge – the border between Norway and Sweden and the finish is the same as for Thursday’s prologue. Riders presentation between 10:10-11:00. The start takes place at 11:10 and the riders will enter the final circuit at 14:28-14:48. The finish in Halden is estimated to 15:04-15:28.

All necessary information like times, maps and other relevant info about the race is to be found in the technical guide on our homepage.

Information for media
Head of media is Kjell-Erik Kristiansen (kjellerik@me.com), but we do also have an international chief of media – Niels Goudriaan (niels@nmgproductions.nl).

Media can apply for accreditations by sending an e-mail to Henriette Amundsen:
henriette.amundsen@teknotherm.no.

International media kan apply for accreditation by sending an e-mail to Niels Goudriaan.

Questions about media can be adressed to Kjell-Erik Kristiansen, +47-46 54 28 20.

The main press center will be at the Thon Hotell in Halden, but there will be sub press centers at all the finishing areas. In Halden this is the same as the main press center. At Mysen the press center is at Kulturtorget and in Fredrikstad just behind the finish at Tollbodbrygga (follow signs). All press centers are equipped with WiFi.

You can pick up your accreditation at the race office at Thon Hotell in Halden. If you send us an e-mail in advance we can bring your credentials to the start of the stage you want.

Lucinda Brand won the Ladies Tour of Norway last year and she was one of the favourites also this year. But this Saturday night the former Dutch champion is writing on Twitter that she has the leave out both the World Tour in Sweden and Norway.

– Hard and difficult to decide not to race in Sweden and Norway. But getting 100% fit is more important as there are still nice races coming, is Brand writing on Twitter.

She won last years LToN after a solobreak on the stage between Mysen and Sarpsborg. There she got the lead she never gave away again. This year she has moved to Team Sunweb and she was their hope for the GC.
Now it will probably be Ellen Van Dijk who has to deliver for Team Sunweb in Norway

Here are the riders you can follow in this years edition of Ladies Tour of Norway. This is the first startlist with a comment for every team.
If you check out  the “team-page” here on our site, you can also see the jerseys so you you can distinguish them from one another as they fight it out on the roads in Østfold.

You will see world stars such as the newly crowned European champion Marianne Vos, the Danish World champion Amalie Dideriksen, the Norwegian Hitec Products team, and several of the world’s best female riders.

The prologue will take place in the center of Halden between 15:00-20:00 on Thursday. Stage 1 and 2 between Halden – Mysen and Sarpsborg – Fredrikstad are in the afternoon, and Sunday’s final stage from the old Svinesund bridge and Halden – with several kilometers in Sweden – is a midday stage.

It will be possible to follow the race live on TV and internet all over the world. We’re coming back with more info about this shortly.
You will also find more info here at LToN’s homepage (wwwbattleoft.wp.monsterweb.no).

These are the teams in this years race with their preliminary riders:

BOELS-DOLMANS CYCLING TEAM (Holland)
1 Amalie Dideriksen, DEN
2 Chantal Blaak, HOL
3 Jip Van Den Bos, HOL
4 Amy Pieters, HOL
5 Christine Majerus, LUX
6 Karol Ann Canual, CAN

The world’s leading team for ladies is of course one of the favourites, even though neither of the two previous winners Anna van der Breggen and Megan Guarnier are in the line-up this year. But the reigning World champion Amalie Dideriksen from Denmark has been here before, and will get valuable help from the strong riders Chantal Blaak, Amy Pieters, Christine Majerus and Karol Ann Canual. The team recently won the TTT at the World Tour in Vårgårda; the team’s 23rd victory of the year.

WIGGLE HIGH5 (Great Britain)
11 Giorgia Bronzini, ITA
12 Jolien D’Hoore, BEL
13 Audrey Cordon Ragot, FRA
14 Annette Edmonson, AUS
15 Claudia Lichtenberg, GER
16 Julie Leth, DEN

Another very strong team, with Belgian sprinter Jolien D’Hoore as a favorite in massprints. The former double World champion Giorgia Bronzini from Italy (2010 and 2011) was 2nd at the ECH in Denmark and can be a rider in the top of the GC. Some of the team member have previously competed for the Norwegian Hitec Products team. Wiggle High5 has 15 wins so far this season.

WM3 ENERGIE (Holland)
21 Marianne Vos, HOL
22 Katarzyna Niewiadoma, POL
23 Moniek Tenniglo, HOL
24 Anouska Koster, HOL
25 Jeanne Korevaar, HOL
26 Anna Plichta, POL

Dutch superstar Marianne Vos is probably the biggest favourite to win the GC. She won the ECH in Denmark and participated in the first edition of LToN 4 years ago. Then she ended second after her teammate Anna van der Breggen.
Young Polish rider Katarzyna Niewiadoma is just 22 years old, but already she has won some stage races. Last year’s Dutch champion Anouska Koster won the last stage of LToN in 2016 when she – like several of her teammates last year – rode for the now dissolved Rabobank team. WM3 Energie has won 14 races in 2017.

TEAM SUNWEB (Germany)
31 Lucinda Brand, HOL
32 Leah Kirchmann, CAN
33 Juliette Labous, FRA
34 Sabrina Stultiens, HOL
35 Liane Lippert, GER
36 Ellen Van Dijk, HOL

Lucinda Brand won LToN last year and is now riding for a new team. Team Sunweb has had a fantastic season on the men’s side, and is strong also amongst the ladies. The sprinter Coryn Rivera from USA is not in the line-up for Norway, but we count on Brand as a name for the overall classification. To help her, Team Sunweb has another Dutch star Ellen Van Dijk. She is one of the strongest timetrialists worldwide. Team Sunweb has won 12 races in 2017, including Van Dijk’s gold in the European champs TT.

CANYON SRAM RACING (Germany)
41 Christa Riffel, GER
42 Tiffany Cromwell, AUS
43 Barbara Guarischi, ITA
44 Mieke Kröger, GER
45 Alexis Ryan, USA
46 Leah Thorvilson, USA

A very interesting team that sends a young line-up to Norway. Experienced stars like Lisa Brennauer and Trixi Worrack are missing, and so is the Brittish sprinter Hannah Barnes. But Tiffany Cromwell from Australia won the first stage of Thüringen Ladies Tour this year, one of 6 victories for the team so far in 2017.

ORICA-SCOTT (Australia)
51 Georgia Williams, AUS
52 Amanda Spratt, AUS
53 Rachel Neylan, AUS
54 Sarah Roy, AUS
55 Gracie Elvin, AUS
56 Jenelle Crooks, AUS

The Australien team, which we also know from the men’s races, has no less than 15 victories so far this year. Dutch star Annemiek Van Vleuten, who crashed severly during the Olympics in Rio, is not here, but experienced Amanda Spratt is. She was on the podium in LToN two years ago. Sarah Roy has two wins this year, and Orica-Scott will for sure be up there at the stages in the Ladies Tour of Norway.

CERVÉLO-BIGLA PRO CYCLING (Germany)
61 Lotta Lepistö, FIN
62 Nicole Hanselmann, SUI
63 Stephanie Pohli, GER
64 Lisa Klein, GER
65 Clara Koppenburg, GER
66 Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, DEN

The German registered team has strong connectios to the North. World’s bronzemedalist Lotta Lepistö from Finland is a very intersting rider, she has been here before and we expect her to be among the best on some stages.
Young Danish rider Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig is one of the most talented riders in the world, and won the climber’s jersey in last years LToN. The 21 years old leads the WWT young rider classification and won the silver in the U23 ECH TT-race.
Swiss rider Nicole Hanselmann won the first stage in rainy Fredrikstad last year. Cérvelo-Bigla has 15 wins to date this year, of these Lotta Lepistö is responsible for five.

ALÉ CIPOLLINI (Italy)
71 Chloe Hosking, AUS
72 Ane Santesteban,ESP
73 Romy Kasper, GER
74 Janneke Ensing, HOL
75 Soraya Paladin, ITA
76 Anna Trevisi, ITA

The Italian team has their best chances in the sprints with the Australian Chloe Hosking, also she with a past in Hitec Products. She is responsible for 3 of the team’s 7 victories in 2017, among them a World Tour-victory on the third stage of OVO Energy Women’s Tour. Experienced Romy Kasper from Germany transferred from Boels-Dolmans to Alé Cipollini this year, adding valuable routine to the team.

CYLANCE PRO CYCLING (USA)
81 Kirsten Wild, HOL
82 Marta Tagliaferro, ITA
83 Rossella Ratto, ITA
84 Sheyla Gutierrez, ESP
85 Dani King, GBR
86 Malgorzata Jasinska, POL

The American team relies on Dutch supersprinter Kirsten Wild, who last year was part of Hitec Products. She is one of the fastest sprinters in the world and won silver at the Worlds in Qatar last year –not quite happy for loosing the the sprint to Danish surprise Amalie Dideriksen.
Spain’s Sheyla Gutierrez is also a strong rider with three of the team’s 6 victories this year on her CV.

TEAM VELOCONCEPT WOMEN (Denmark)
91 Linda Willumsen, NZL
92 Camilla Møllebro, DEN
93 Christina Siggaard, DEN
94 Pernille Mathiesen, DEN
95 Louise Norman Hansen, DEN
96 Sara Mustonen, SWE

This is Bjarne Riis’s new, exciting ladies team. In LToN we will meet Linda Willumsen again, the former top rider who tried to finish her carrer after the Olympics in Rio 2016. Now she is back on track. The former Danish rider now represents New Zeeland.
Young Danish rider Pernille Mathiesen was recently crowned U23 European champion after a late attack on home asphalt in Herning. This is an exciting team with big chances in this years LToN.

BEPINK COGEAS (Italy)
101 Olga Zabelinskaya, RUS
102 Silvia Valsecchi, ITA
103 Ilaria Sanguineti, ITA
104 Alison Jackson, CAN
105 Francesca Pattaro, ITA
106 Katia Raguska, ITA

Italian team where none of the riders in LToN having won so far this year. 37 year old superveteran Olga Zabelinskaya from Russia has Olympic medals and a lot of strong results. We hope to see some of her good old glory again this year.

HITEC PRODUCTS (Norway)
111 Emilie Moberg, NOR
112 Vita Heine, NOR
113 Miriam Bjørnsrud, NOR
114 Thea Thorsen, NOR
115 Susanne Andersen, NOR
116 Ingvild Gåskjenn, NOR

Norway’s only professional team at the top level is lining up an all Norwegian crew. The biggest star for the locals is of course home grown rider Emilie Moberg. She was on the podium on the last stage the past two years. Vita Heine will show the Norwegian champion jersey and young talent Susanne Andersen has medals from both the Worlds and the Europeans championships the two latest years.

LENSWORLD-KUOTA (Belgium)
121 Maria Giulia Confalonieri, ITA
122 Annalisa Cucinotta, ITA
123 Tatiana Guderzo, ITA
124 Tetiana Riabchenko, UKR
125 Nathalie Verschelden, BEL
126 Alice Maria Arzuffi, ITA

Belgian team with a strong influence from Italy, chasing their first victory of the year. Maria Giulia Confalonieria is a good sprinter and Alice Maria Arzuffi is a strong timetrialist. But the biggest star is the former World champion (2009) Tatiana Guderzo who moved from Norwegian Hitec Products after last season.

FDJ NOUVELLE AQUITAINE FUTUROSCOPE (France)
131 Greta Richioud, FRA
132 Charlotte Bravrard, FRA
133 Roxane Fournier, FRA
134 Sara Gillow, AUS
135 Roxane Knetemann, HOL
136 Eri Yonamine, JPN

FDJ have an exciting team also among the ladies. Charlotte Bravrard is French champion of the year and Eri Yonamine won the Japanese championships. Experienced Sara Gillow of Australia came from Rabobank and has four Australian TT-titles on her CV.

LOTTO SOUDAL LADIES (Belgium)
141 Lotte Kopecky, BEL
142 Elise Delzenne, FRA
143 Annelies Dom, BEL
144 Trine Schmidt, DEN
145 Isabelle Beckers, BEL
146 Julie Van De Velde, BEL

Lotto Soudal is another team with both ladies- and men’s team on the highest level. However, the ladies haven’t won as much as the men this year and so far they are listed with just one victory. A big talent is the 21 year old Lotte Kopecky with several strong results, eager to take her first victory at World Tour-level.

DROPS (Great Britain)
151 Anna Christian, GBR
152 Elizabeth Holden, GBR
153 Laura Massey, GBR
154 Hannah Payton, GBR
155 Abigail Van Twisk, GBR
156 Lucy Shaw, GBR

A Brittish team with 7 victories this year, provided by Belgian Ann-Sophie duyck and Austrian Martina Ritter. None of them are in the line-up for LtoN however, and therefore it will be a tall order for the young team to beat the world stars coming to Østfold.

PARKHOTEL VALKENBURG – DESTIL (Holland)
161 Aafke Soet, HOL
162 Nicole Steigenga, HOL
163 Eva Buurman, HOL
164 Paulina Rooijakkers, HOL
165 Esther Van Veen, HOL
166 Hanna Solovei, UKR

A Dutch team with Ukrainian timetrialist Hanna Solovay as the most prominent. She is a very strong TT-rider with one victory of the team’s two victories this year. 19 year old Aafke Soet is a big talent, she was second in the young rider competition in Tour de Feminin in the Czech Republic this year.

TEAM WNT (Great Britain)
171 Lydia Boylan, IRL
172 Elise Maes, HOL
173 Hayley Simmonds, GBR
174 Hayley Jones, GBR
175 Eileen Roe, GBR
176 Natalie Grinczer, GBR

Another British team this year. They have some interesting riders, such as Hayley Simmonds who finishet third in Thüringen Ladies Tour, and should be looked out for in the GC. Lydia Boylan is Irish chamion of the year, and hence we will see another champion jersey in the field.

SPORT VLAANDEREN –GUILL D’OR (Belgium)
181 Kelly Druyts, BEL
182 Demmy Druyts, BEL
183 Jessy Druyts, BEL
184 Valerie Demey, BEL
185 Kelly Van Den Steen, BEL
186 Nathalie Bex, BEL

No other professional teams have four sisters in the same team. The Druyts family provides three sisters in the line-up for LToN this year. The all-Belgian team chases its first victory of the season, realising it will be a hard fight to get it in Norway.

TEAM VALCAR PBM (Italy)
191 Elisa Balsamo, ITA
192 Marta Cavalli, ITA
193 Silvia Pollicini, ITA
194 Silvia Persico, ITA
195 Chiaa Zanettini, ITA
196 Dalia Muccioli, ITA

The Italian team is of course still chocked after their teammate Claudia Crettis’s terrible crash during the 7th stage of the Giro Rosa. But the Italian girls in Team Valcar PBM keep fighting on and they are also chasing their first victory of the season.

NORWAY (national team)
201 Ingrid Moe, NOR
202 Stine Borgli, NOR
203 Julie Solvang, NOR
204 Line Gulliksen, NOR
205 Malin Eriksen, NOR
206 Caroline Thorvik Olsen, NOR

Norway is one of two national teams in the race. This is an excellent opportunity for Norwegian riders not riding for Hitec Products or other top level teams to show themselves. Last year youngster Susanne Andersen was 2nd at the 2nd stage for the Norwegian national team. Maybe someone else rises to the occation this year?

AUSTRALIA (national team)
201 Lisen Hocking, AUS
202 Lucy Kennedy, AUS
203 Shannon Malseed, AUS
204 Grace Brown, AUS
205 Jessica Pratt, AUS
206 Louise Lobigs, AUS

Nice that Australia too provides a national team in addition to the professional team Orica-Scott. Some of these girls might turn up at the World championships in Bergen in September. In LToN they get a good chance to test Norwegian roads before the big clash on the west coast.

What do you do when you want a finish in a World Tour-race but are one road short? Well, you build a new road for the cyclists…
”Gunnars vei” (”Gunnars road”) at Mysen saves the finish on Friday’s stage from Halden to the small city in the inner of Østfold.

”Gunnars vei” is named after Gunnar Johnsrud in Eidsberg kommune (municipality). He is the one in charge of building the 75 meters of gravel road connecting Blomsterveien at Smådahljordet with Sponesveien.
This is but a short part of gravel road, constructed to avoid crossing the raiway. The ladies haven’t time to wait for the train!
Also last year the ladies faced a part of gravel road in Rakkestad when visiting the fair ”Markens Grøde”. Although the dirt is shorter this year, the main difference is that there were no road her before!

-I never believed that I should see a World Tour-race here, says the project manager Kjell-Erik Kristiansen laughing. He is from Mysen himself and knows the area better than most.
-The problem was that we can’t cross the railway because of the trains from Oslo passing every hour. And we didn’t want to close down the whole center of Mysen, so the municipality came up with a constructive solution with ”Gunnars vei”. I really hope people will come out to see this spectacular event, says Kristiansen, who has been an announcer at about 50 World Championships and 7 Olympics.

Mysen – Østfold’s youngest city
Mysen is Østfold’s youngest city, celebrating its 20 years anniversary this year. The Ladies Tour of Norway on Friday the 18th of August is one of the biggest sporting events ever in the inner part of the region of Østfold. And it is double special since prime minister Erna Solberg is the special Guest of honor.

We frequently get questions about the ladies’arrival time at Mysen. TV2 transmits live between 16:40 and 18:20 and we expect the racers to enter the final circuit just after 17:15 local time. They will do three laps through Mysen centre, says Kristiansen, who also is looking forward to welcoming fellow commentator legends Christian Paasche and Johan Kaggestad from TV2 to Mysen.

”Gunnars vei” is not the only section of gravel this year. Also on Saturday’s stage between Sarspborg and Fredrikstad there is a part without tarmac, but the most challenging part is a 7 kilometer, partly ascending gravel road through the Swedish forests between Enningdalen and Kornsjø.

Technical laps
The three laps in Mysen are technical and demanding. A bridge within the last kilometer will have new asphalt, hopefully still not slippery. The field enters Mysen from the old E18 coming from Ørje, close to the Swedish border.

There are two sprints in Mysen. One normal sprint at the first passage of the finish line and one Queen of Mountain on the second lap at Folkenborg. There is a hill on each lap, and the course is quite twisty with several 90 degrees corners. The final straight is slightly uphill with the steepest part closest to the line.

The people of Mysen are really ready to welcome the Ladies Tour of Norway for the first finish here (last year one of the stages started here, and the men’s Tour of Norway has passed the city a couple of times).

The Prize ceremony will be at Kulturtorget next to the finish at 18:10-18:15. The average speed on the undulating stage from Halden is expected to be around 40 km/h.

During Monday, 30 infosigns were set up in Halden, Fredrikstad and Mysen. They show when the roads are closed during the finish of the Ladies Tour of Norway in the three cities. Venue manager Marius Jørgensen has also started to warn the neighbours.

To organise a cycle race at this leves requires a lot of preparations, and an important part of this is to inform the locals about how the race will influence on their daily life.
Both in Halden, Fredrikstad and Mysen the finish is situated in the middle of the city center, so there will of course be some changes in the normal rythm of the traffic during the final laps of each stage.

But now the signs are up, so people can prepare these days in good time when the Ladies Tour of Norway is visiting their town. The organisers do also hope that as many people as possible are coming out to chear on the ladies and making a lot of noise when the cycling World Tour is visiting Norway for the very first time.

We know that there are a lot of activities planned in the three finisihing cities and also along the courses during the stages.

Jolien D’hoore – put the name on your memory!

This might very well be one of the most exciting riders in this years Ladies Tour of Norway. The four times Belgian champion is en excellent sprinter who might figure in the top of this years World Tour-race in Norway together with her strong Wiggle High5-team.

D’hoore won her fourth Belgian national title in this years championships, but she has won much more than that. Only this year she has won the Omloop van het Hageland-Tielt-Wing (1.1(), Grand Prix de Dottignies (1.2), Tour of Chongming Island (2.WWT), 1 stage in the OVO Energy Women’s Tour (2.WWT) and 1 stage in the Giro Rosa.
Her last result is a 6th place in theWorld Tour-race RideLondon.

The 27 years old has won the Flanders Diamond Tour three times, the BeNe Ladies Tour twice and last year she won the Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta. In 2015 D’hoore won the World Tour-race in Vårgårda, Sweden – taking place the week before LToN this year – and she won the Boels Rental Ronde van Drenthe.Jolien D’hoore’s professional carrer startet at Topsport Vlaanderen in 2008, a team she represented until after 2012. After that she spent two years at Lotto Belisol Ladies before she went to Wiggle Honda in 2015, the team later being renamed Wiggle High5.

She started cycling at the age of 12 after having done atheltics since she was 6 years old. Jolien has always had a big talent for sports and she won the Junior World Championships on the track in South Africa in 2008. She was only 18 years old when she became professional at Topsport Vlaanderen.

Beside the cycling she has taken an education in physiotheraphy. D’hoore won her first Belgian national title in 2012, a victory she repeted both in 2014 and 2015 – and also this year. In 2016 she won the bronze medal.

In her first season with Wiggle High5 she was the most winning rider on the team with 13 UCI-victories, among these two World Cup-races. Her best season was 2016 when she won an Olympic bronze in Omnium in Rio de Janeiro and a gold medal in Madison at the European championships.

Jolien D’hoore will head a very strong Wiggle High5-team for the Ladies Tour of Norway. Her helpers will be the very experienced Italian rider Giorgia Bronzini, the strong helpers Audrey Cordon Ragot from France, Annette Edmonson of Australia and the German rider Claudia Lichtenberg as well as the former Hitec Products-rider Julie Leth from Denmark.
That means that the Swedish team member Emilia Fahlin, who won the World Tour in Vårgårda last year, ”only” is on the list of substitutes so far.

The Hitec-rider Susanne Andersen from Stavanger won a silver medal in the U23 class at Friday’s road race at the European championships in Herning, Denmark. Another good result from the youngster who was third among the juniors at last years World Championships in Qatar.

Only the local rider Pernille Mathiesen of Denmark was able to cross the finish line ahead of the main peloton, where Susanne won the sprint. 7 seconds was the gap from Mathiesen and back to the bunch.

Susanne Andersen was number 2 on the second stage of LToN between Mysen and Sarpsborg last year. Then she was riding for the Norwegian national team, but this time she will come to the Ladies Tour of Norway as one of the six riders at Hitec Products.

Both the gold- and the silver-medalists in the U23 at Herning will come to start in this years edition of LToN. The winner Pernille Mathiesen is a part of Bjarne Riis’s outfit Team VeloCONCEPT Women, and this team is also ready for start in Norway.

The other Norwegians Malin Eriksen and Ingvild Gåskjenn were 41th respectivly 60th in the U23-race, where a lot of the riders will be starting in this years edition of Ladies Tour of Norway.

When Ladies Tour of Norway arrives Fredrikstad, the host city for the second stage, the riders will be a part of ”Idrettsfesten 450”; a big sports party to celebrate the city’s 450 year anniversary. in addition to LToN, both the 8mR World Championship in sailing, the Norwegian championship in archery, as well as Fredrikstad Triatlon take place in Fredrikstad this day.

All these events have a common ”hot spot” at Tollbodplassen, the finishing area for LToN .
– In this jubilée year we want not only to celebrate the history of Fredrikstad, but also to commemorate the contemporary Fredrikstad. To us, sports play a very important role. Since we are so lucky to have this many major events at the same time, we took the opportunity to gather them all at one place, says Irene Østbø, project manager for Fredrikstad 450.

Here there will be a variety of activities both for children and adults; you could try archery, or learn how to sail a boat.

Tollbodplassen – the ”hot spot”
– The venue at Tollbodplassen will be a meeting place both for participants and audience. Here you will find information about all the events as they unfold. We will have a big screen with live footages from LToN and clips from the other events, and a big tent with entertainment, activities and food, says André Flatner, head of the sports department in the city of Fredrikstad.

Fredrikstad Triatlon
The change-over zone and finishing line for Fredrikstad Triatlon is at the main square in the center of Fredrikstad. The swimming stage takes place directly in the city, and the running stage passes the Tollboden hot spot. The triatlon organizers expect about 400 participants. In addition to the triatlon, there will be a ”1 – 10 run”, open for everybody. In this run each participant can decide how long to run. A maximum of 10 rounds, though. Each round is one km.

Archery and World Champs in sailing
The Norwegian championships in Archery takes place at Kongsten just across the river from the LToN finishing line. The local club Fredrikstad Bueskyttere, celebrating their first 60 years, invites to the competitions between 18-20 August.
The event will gather between 250-300 athlets, from 13 years and upwards.

The World Sailing Championships in 8mR at Hankø outside Fredrikstad takes part 10-20 August. Kongelig Norsk Seilforening is the organizing club. The regatta is also a greeting to His Majesty King Harald of Norway, who turned 80 earler this year. Actually, he will participate with his boat ”Sira”.
The 8mR boats are built after the more than 100 years old R-rule. Some of them are close to 100 years old, whereas others are rather new.

LToN as the final
Ladies Tour of Norway concludes the sports party in Fredrikstad. The stage starts in neighbouring city Sarpsborg and ends with three quick laps in the center of the city. Along the course, and at the hot spot, the audience can follow the action both in real life and at the videoboard.
Being the first ever World Tour-race in Norway, the sports party is indeed an event worth while joining!

You find more info about the other events here:

Jackon Fredrikstad Triathlon 2017

World Championships sailing 8mR at Hankø

Norwegian Championships Archery 2017