Tour of Scandinavia (formerly Ladies Tour of Norway) was scaled up to a six-day stage race before last year and expanded with stages in both Denmark and Sweden in addition to Norway. The “grand depart” of the 2022 edition was at Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen with fantastic surroundings and ended with a folk festival in the “home town” Halden. The cross-border cooperation will continue in 2023, and we are very happy to be able to present this year’s race starting in Norway and ending in Denmark.

At the same time, the organizer continues with a number of side projects, including those related to the development of girls’ cycling through the Equal Opportunities project (Like muligheter) and several exciting projects related to sustainable development in collaboration with Viken County Council. The latter projects are also linked to last year’s Eco-lighthouse certification.

These are the stages of Tour of Scandinavia 2023. The route details will be presented later this spring:

Stage 1, Tuesday 22 August, Mysen – Halden: This year’s first stage of the Tour of Scandinavia is organized in familiar areas for those who have followed the Ladies Tour of Norway since the beginning. Mysen (Indre Østfold municipality) most recently hosted a finish in 2022, and is this year hosting the race’s “Grand depart”. Halden is the town where it all started 9 years ago, and has hosted the last stage in all editions of the race up until this year. This time we are turning around, and setting up an exciting final on the 1st stage where the riders will also climb up to Fredriksten fortress on the local circuit. The finish area is, as before, at Kongens brygge in the centre.

Stage 2, Wednesday 23 August, Tanumstrand – Strömstad: Tanumstrand is a fantastic location on the Swedish west coast, and is hosting the start for the first time. Strömstad is back with another finish after last year’s success. This year’s course will take the riders back to many of the beautiful coastal destinations from last year’s 2nd stage. This year’s stage will end with a fast local circuit in Strömstad and not a direct finish as in 2022.

Stage 3, Thursday 24 August, Vikersund – Norefjell: On this stage, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig won solo, and made the base for her overall victory at last year’s Tour of Scandinavia. However, this year’s stage has been somewhat adjusted compared to last year. The start is still in Vikersund, and the stage takes us along the way through Modum, Sigdal and Krødsherad municipalities. The last part of this year’s mountain stage goes via Eggedal in Sigdal municipality. The top of the decisive climb up to Norefjell thus comes with a little more distance from the finish compared to last year. The last 5 km of the stage will be easier. The finish line is the same as before at Norefjell ski & spa.

Stage 4, Friday 25 August, Kongsberg – Larvik: This year’s fourth stage is a completely new stage with new host municipalities. The stage starts close to the waterfall in Kongsberg. The first part down the Lågen valley is relatively easy to ride before the riders have a climb over Vindfjell and Siljan towards Porsgrunn. The route passes on the outskirts of Skien and the center of Porsgrunn before it goes out towards the coast of Vestfold in Helgeroa and Stavern. The final in Larvik is relatively hard with a climb towards the finish in the last 1,4 km. There will be an early finish at stage 4 due to the transfer to Denmark after the stage.

Stage 5, Saturday 26 August, Herning – Herning (individual time trial): For the first time, an individual time trial will be held in the Tour of Scandinavia. The stage is organized on a 16.4 km long route with start and finish in the center of Herning. The course favors the strongest time trial riders, but the technical part in the center of Herning will give the riders some extra challenges.

Stage 6, Sunday 27 August, Middelfart – Kolding – Haderslev: The final stage of this year’s Tour of Scandinavia starts in idyllic Middelfart on Fyn. After a small local loop of the municipality, the riders will pass the old Lillebælt bridge before heading towards Kolding. The route passes the 750-year-old Kolding house before heading south again in the direction of Haderslev on the same roads as last year’s Tour de France. In Haderslev there will be 3 laps in a local final circuit of 7,5 km. The finish area is on top of an approx. 800 meter long climb.

– Tour of Scandinavia 2022 was a great success, and the start in Denmark gave the race a new dimension compared to only having stages in Norway. The cooperation across national borders in Scandinavia is central to this project, and we are very happy that this year we can present a concept with the final to stages in Denmark, says race director Anders Eia Linnestad. – The combination of stages in Norway, Sweden and Denmark this year requires a major logistics operation during the transfer between Larvik in Norway and Herning in Denmark. As organizers, we are nevertheless convinced that this year’s combination of stages will be very well received, concludes Eia Linnestad.

This year’s Tour of Scandinavia has a completely different profile compared to the 2022 edition. Already on the first stage, the riders will be put to the test in the hard final in Halden, and in general there is a greater variation on the stages compared to last year. For the first time, a time trial will also be organized this year, and there will be a battle for the yellow jersey the whole way to the last pedal step in Haderslev.

General director and initiator of the Tour of Scandinavia, Roy Moberg, also shares his enthusiasm for this year’s edition, and the development the event has had since its inception in 2014: – There has been an adventurous development of this race since its inception in 2014. With six stages in three Nordic countries, we are a unique concept that builds bridges between the countries’ culture, sports, tourism and business activities. Through the collaboration with Denmark and Sweden, we feel that we have added something new and fresh to cycling. The feedback from last year’s event concept was very good and this year we are taking it one step further. The stages are exciting and varied and we have a packed program throughout the event week which we are really looking forward to showing off in August, concludes Moberg.

The organizer reserves the right to make some adjustments to the stages in Norway and Sweden pending political consideration.

Background Tour of Scandinavia:
Tour of Scandinavia is the only World Tour race in Scandinavia regardless of gender. Every year, the race gathers the best teams and profiles in the world on the women’s side in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. This year the race will be organized 22 – 27 August. Together with the Tour de France Femmes and the Giro Rosa, the Scandinavian race is the most prestigious stage race in the cycling world for women. Tour of Scandinavia was Eco lighthouse certified in 2022 and has a number of side projects with a focus on sustainability. In 2022, the race gathered over 4.6 million TV viewers globally on Eurosport’s live broadcasts and all over 16 million viewers on all platforms.

For further info about Tour of Scandinavia, contact:
Roy Moberg, general director                       +47-906 49 339
Anders Eia Linnestad, race director             +47-900 68 423

Danmark:
Jesper Tikiøb, event manager DCU             +45-4037 9620
Ulrich Gorm, communication DCU             +45-2940 0202