All the World Tour-teams are on the starting line for the Ladies Tour of Norway this year, Norway’s only World Tour-race between 12th and 15th August. And with the best TV-coverage ever it looks like a great cycling party in the Norwegian re-opening of the country.
A lot looks like it will be another race with the Dutch women in the center. The queen of the race is Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma). She has won the race three times and in 2017 she won all the stages.
But when the race for the first time will have a real mountain top finish to Norefjell on the third stage, Marianne Vos is outside her comfort zone. Her Dutch colleagues Annemiek Van Vleuten (Movistar) and Anna Van Der Breggen (SD Worx) both like to climb and they will for sure challenge Vos here.
But there are also a lot of other top riders to look out for. The home country also hoping for some Norwegians to shine during the days. The best chances in the mountains has Katrine Aalerud (Movistar) who recently won the Norwegian TT championships. Riders like Susanne Andersen (Team DSM) and Emilie Moberg (Drops) are good sprinters but will meet the fastest ladies on the World Tour, so it will not be easy to go away with a stage win.
We see more and more of the big teams for men in international cycling now also having ladies teams. So the spectators in Norway will recognize the jerseys from teams like FDJ, Movistar, Team BikeExchange, Team DSM, Trek-Segafredo and Jumbo-Visma.
There will be two Norwegian teams on the start as well. Hitec Products is the professional team who has been there every year at LToN. Today they have mostly young, promising and local riders.
Norway will also start with a national team.
18 teams of 6 riders will start the race and since the Ladies Tour of Norway will happen just after the Olympics there are questions around the shape of the riders coming more or less directly from Japan.
The stages for this years Ladies Tour of Norway:
12.August, stage 1: Halden–Sarpsborg 141,6 km
13.August, stage 2: Askim–Mysen 140,9 km
14.August, stage 3: Drammen–Norefjell 145,1 km
15.August, stage 4: Drøbak–Halden 141,6 km
These are the teams in the Ladies Tour of Norway 2021:
ALÉ BTC LJUBLJANA (Italy)
Old teams BTC Ljubljana from Slovenia and Alé Cipollini from Italy merged to make the new team Alé BTC Ljubljana. One of the biggest stars is Spain’s Mavi Garcia who recently won a double in the Spanish championships.
34 year old Marta Bastianelli from Italy won the World’s back in 2007 and she has won both Gent-Wevelgem (2018), Tour of Flanders and Postnord WWT Vårgårda (both 2019). She was the European champion in 2018. A strong sprinter.
Another super veteran is 36 year old Tatiana Guderzo from Italy who was the World champion in 2009 and has both silver and bronze from the WCH as well as bronze from the Olympics in 2008. She is still up there and was second in the Italian championships this year.
Eugenia Bujak recently won the Slovenian championships for the second team, now ahead of teammate Ursa Pintar who won last year. Swiss rider Marlen Reusser is also a national champion, both from this year and 2019. She was also second at the TT WCH in 2020.
CANYON/SRAM RACING (Germany)
One of the strongest World Tour-teams with a very international squad. Polish star Katarzyna Niewiadoma is a rider who can challenge for the overall. She won the Amstel Gold Race in 2019 and the OVO Energy Tour in Britain 2017.
The strong sprinting sisters Alice and Hannah Barnes from GB have impressed in LToN before and American Chloe Dygert is a strong timetrailist. She had a nasty crash during last years WCH, but she has won the US TT championships this year and she was the TT World champion in 2019.
Elise Chabbey won silver in the Swiss championships this year and the Belarussian veteran Alena Amialiusik, 32, is a five time national champion and won the European Games 2015.
Beside that Omer Shapira has won the jersey in Israel four times. Strong German riders are Lisa Klein and Hannah Ludwig, and dont’t forget American Alexis Ryan.
FDJ NOUVELLE-AQUITAINE FUTUROSCOPE (France)
The French World Tour-team also have a womens team at the highest level. And it has become some of a Nordic team. Danish rider Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig is a colorful person always with a smile and strong climbing legs that has taken her to the world’s elite. The 25 year old will be an interesting rider to follow on the climb to Norefjell.
Sweden’s Emilia Fahlin is an experienced top rider who was 4th at the WCH 2019 and she was also 2nd overall at the LToN the same year. The 32 year old from Örebro is a former Swedish champion and she has been in the business since 2007.
Also in the team is Norwegian Stine Borgli, the 30 year old who became a professional in 2019. She has already shown that she can ride with the best and she won Vuelta A Burgos Feminas overall in 2019.
MOVISTAR TEAM WOMEN (Spain)
The Spanish super team with both women and men on the World Tour-level. They do also have may be the world’s best female rider at the moment in 38 year old Dutch veteran Annemiek Van Vleuten who won the TT-gold at the world’s in Bergen, Norway 2017 and she defended the title the following year.
She won the World championships roadrace in 2019 and she has twice won the ladies Giro d’Italia where she has a total of 11 stagewins. She has won most of what you can win but a lot of people will for always remember her because of the terrible crash during the roadrace in the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Brazil where she was on the ground looking out of life when she had the lead shortly before the finish.
Van Vleuten has also become some of a mentor for Norway’s own Katrine Aalerud, who is also riding for Movistar. The 26 year started her cycling carrer late after she was involved with horse sport before. But she has had great progress and she was outstanding when winning the Norwegian TT-title this summer. She has several top-10’s in World Tour-races and she is Norway’s best climber. She will be a very interesting starter on her home roads.
Movistar also have the Danish star Emma Norsgaard who is a good sprinter. The former mountainbiker has taken the last step up among the best riders in the world.
TEAM BIKEEXCHANGE (Australia)
The Australian team former under the name of Orica-GreenEdge. They have lost Annemiek Van Vleuten but do still have a lot of strong rider. Australian Grace Brown, Sarah Roy and Amanda Spratt are all both strong and experienced. They can deliver results in different kind of terrain.
Team BikeExchange is another team with both women and men at the highest level. Norwegian Amund Grøndahl Jansen is new in their mens squad this year.
TEAM DSM (Germany)
The former Sunweb-team from Germany has Norwegian top riders both in their womens and mens team. Susanne Andersen and Andreas Leknesund are both riding with the black jerseys.
Susanne has been a domestic during most of the season, but the big talent was 7th already at the WCH in Bergen 2017, so everybody knows that the capacity is there.
The team do have to very strong sprinters in American Coryn Rivera and Dutch Lorena Wiebes. Rivera was 3rd in LToN 2019 and has won several World Tour-races like the Tour of Flanders and RideLondon Classic (2017). She was second in this years US championships.
22 year old Wiebes is a real gun in the sprints. She won the first stage at LToN in Horten 2019 and she took the best young riders jersey in the race. She is one of the fastest in the world on the final meters and that has already given her several wins at World Tour-level.
Strong allrounders are Canadian Leah Kirchmann, French Juliette Labous and German Liane Lippert.
TEAM SD WORX (Holland)
The worlds best womens team former known as Boels-Dolmans. Anna Van Der Breggen is together with Van Vleuten in Movistar the worlds best. She has won more or less everything, also LTON which she won in the first edition back in 2014. The 31 year old with Olympic- and WCH-gold medals all over is riding her last season and will transform to be a directeur sportif for the team after this season.
Chantal Blaak-Van Den Broek won the World’s roadrace in Bergen, Norway in 2017 and is also in her last season. Another strong veteran is Christine Majerus who has a long string of national titles in Luxembourg. South African Ashleigh Moolman is another world class rider now with the SD Workx team. And Canadian Karol-Ann Canuel is one of the best domestics in the business.
The new star is Dutch rider Demi Vollering who came from Parkhotel Valkenburg and who impressed with a 3rd place on the climb to Fredriksten festning in Halden during LToN 2019. This year she taken her biggest win ever by claiming the win in Liege-Bastogne-Liege at the World Tour.
SD Workx is for sure one team we will see up there on all of the four stages on the Norwegian roads in August.
TREK–SEGAFREDO (USA)
The American team have many cards to play. The strongest is probably the Italian veteran Elisa Longo Borghini who took a double in the Italian championships this year and who has been a professional since 2011. She has won several of the big classics and she has a bronze from the Olympics in 2016 and two World championships bronze from 2012 and 2020.
31 year old Lucinda Brand from Holland won LToN in 2016 and she is also one of the world’s best cyclocross riders. This year she has won Thüringen Ladies Tour in Germany and she was third in the Dutch championships.
Elizabeth Deignan, Great Britain and Amalie Dideriksen, Denmark are both former World champions, Deignan i 2015 and Dideriksen in 2016 and twice as a junior. She is also a five times Danish champion, also this year and she is a top rider on the track as well. Two typical championships riders who are always dangerous for the others.
Ellen Van Dijk from Holland is the TT World champion from 2013 and she has 4 (!) gold in the TT-races at the European championships. Audrey Cordon-Ragot won the French championships again this year, and the team is also having strong American riders in Taylor Wiles and Ruth Winder. Australian Chloe Hosking has won a stage in LToN before and she is a good sprinter, while Italian Letizia Paternoster is a big talent and a former junior World champion. The super veteran in the team is German Trixi Worrack, 39.
LIV RACING (Holland)
Not as strong as the likes of SD Workx and Trek-Segafredo but they have a very strong rider in the Belgian champion Lotte Kopecky who recently signed for SD Workx for next season. Very strong sprinter and also able to follow in harder terrain.
Italian Soraya Paladon won the climbers jersey in LToN and other big races in 2019 and she was second in the Italian TT championships this year.
Liv Racing have several experienced riders, but they are not among the biggest favourites for the overall victory this year.
VALCAR – TRAVEL & SERVICE (Italy)
Am all-Italian team who have been regular participants at the LToN. The biggest star is the former junior world champion Elisa Balsamo, who is a strong sprinter. She has been a little up and down this year but was 3rd both in Scheldeprijs and Brabantse Pijl in Belgium back in April.
Also watch out for 21 year old Chiara Consonni who has two wins this year, both in Ronde de Mouscron in Belgium and in Vuelta CV Feminas in Spain. And also a 2nd in SPAR Flanders Diamond Tour, also in Belgium.
PARKHOTEL VALKENBURG (Holland)
A team with only Dutch riders who have lost their two strongest in Lorena Wiebes (Team DSM) and Demi Vollering (SD Workx). With several young, promising riders they look a little bit like the Norwegian Hitec Products team as a development team.
The best results this year have been reached by Amber Van Der Hulst.
TEAM TIBCO – SILICON VALLEY BANK (USA)
The second American team in the race, but without the biggest stars. Japanese rider Eri Yonamine has come from FDJ this year, while the sprint specialist Nina Kessler from Holland represented the Norwegian squad Hitec Products before.
Sarah Gigante is the Australian TT champion this year Laurens Stephens is the teams biggest start with a new Americhan champion jersey after a solowin in their championships.
DROPS – LE COL BY TEMPUR (Great Britain)
The British team have two local riders in Emilie Moberg and Elise Marie Olsen, both from the hosting city of Halden. Emilie won the green points jersey in LToN 2019 and she won silver at this years Norwegian championships. Elise Marie won the U23-class there.
The teams biggest chance in LToN is probably the sprints and the advantage of home terrain for Emilie Moberg.
Others to watch out for are Marjolein Van’t Geloof from Holland, Maria Martins from Portugal and Joscelin Lowden, Great Britain who has delivered the best results this year alongside with Moberg. Martins won the Portuguese championship, and Joscelin Lowden won both a stage and the stagerace Tour de Feminine in Czech Republic in general, together with the mountain jersey in the same race.
TEAM COOP – HITEC PRODUCTS (Norway)
The team from south east of Norway have been Norway’s representative in the womens top for several years. This year the team is filled with mostly young Norwegian riders and is more a kind of development team. Ingvild Gåskjenn is a big talent who won bronze in the Norwegian championships this year. Youngster Anne Dorthe Ysland is a big talent and German Mieke Kröger is a strong time trailer who has been close to stagewins in LToN before.
TEAM JUMBO–VISMA WOMEN (Holland)
The Dutch top team with a Norwegian co-sponsor is riding their first season with a ladies team at the highest level. And they have managed to sign the big profile for this race and the ”queen” of womens cycling for more than 10 years: Marianne Vos from Holland.
The 34 year old has been in the game since 2006 and she has won the last three editions of the Ladies Tour of Norway. In 2018 she won alle the stages. Marianne Vos has three World Championships titles, 30 (!) stagewins in the ladies Giro d’Italia and 8 stages in LToN just to mention some of her results. And of course the Olympic gold from 2012.
Marianne Vos is beside this one of the cyclocross riders in the world and she is for sure one of the overall favourites in this years LToN even though the climb to Norefjell will be a challenge for her.
The rest of the team is there to help her. Among them are former Dutch champion Anouska Koster, German Romi Kasper, the talent Anna Henderson from Great Britain and Denmarks Pernille Mathiesen.
NORWEGIAN NATIONAL TEAM (Norway)
Norway will also start with their national team. This is for riders who are not in any of the other teams. But there are several Norwegian ladies riding for teams outside the country, like the former Norwegian champions Mie Bjørndahl Ottestad and Line Marie Gulliksen both riding for the Andy Schleck-team in Luxembourg.
CICLISMO MUNDIAL (Belgium)
A team outside the World Tour who doesn’t have the biggest stars. It will be a surprise if they win a stage in Norway in August.
BINGOAL CASINO – CHEVALMEIRE (Belgium)
Also one of the Belgian second division teams who have not been on the top of the lists in the big races this year. But Thalita De Jong has delivered the best results. Riding here is also the Italian veteran Rossella Ratto who has experience from LToN. The teams also have three sisters in Demmy, Kelly and Lenny Druyts. Rotem Gafinovitz is new in the team and won recently the Israelian TT championship.
