Several of the world’s best female riders will gather in Copenhagen, Denmark on Tuesday the 9th of August for the very first Tour of Scandinavia, a World Tour-race over 6 stages through three different countries.
Stars from the newly finished Tour de France femmes like Demi Vollering, Marianne Vos and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig are among the favourites for the race.
Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) has been the queen of the Ladies Tour of Norway, the race name before extending to Tour of Scandinavia this year. She won the green jersey in the TdFF and the question is if the Dutch legend can hold off the others on the 10 km climb to the finish at Norefjell on the penultimate stage.
Fellow Dutch rider Demi Vollering (SD Worx) is another contender for the overall. She was the runner-up at the TdFF and the winner and the reining champion in Norway, Annemiek van Vleuten is not on the entrylist for the first Tour of Scandinavia. That can open the door for Vollering, but she will not be without strong competitors.
One of them being the TdFF-stagewinner Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ) who is extra motivated to ride her first ever World Tour-race on home soil in Denmark. She is also a strong climber and she loves to race in Scandinavia.
Lucinda Brand (Trek-Segafredo) has also won the Ladies Tour of Norway before and the cyclocross champion is one of the riders to watch out for.
The Scandinavian ladies are definitely hungry for showing themselves at home. Katrine Aalerud (Movistar) is back after a long strike of sickness and she will probably head the Spanish squad in the abscense of van Vleuten.
Susanne Andersen (Uno-X) is also back after injury. She broke her collarbone at the Norwegian championships in the end of July and will now make her comeback.
Norway have three teams on start for the first time. Beside Uno-X the professional Team Coop-Hitec Products will line up along with the national team. Denmark will also start with their national team.
Sweden are also having some interesting riders. Emilia Fahlin (FDJ) is one of three Scandinavians in her team. Beside Uttrup there is also Stine Borgli from Norway.
Young Julia Borgström (AG Insurance–NXTG) is hot efter she had the white jersey for one day in the TdFF and Wilma Olausson (Uno-X) is also a big talent.
You will find the complete enrollment list here.
The stages for the race are:
Stage 1, Tuesday 9th August: Copenhagen–Helsingør (DEN), 145,6 km
Stage 2, Wednesday 10th August: Mollösund/Orust–Strömstad (SWE), 153,8 km
Stage 3, Thursday 11th August: Moss–Sarpsborg (NOR), 119 km
Stage 4, Friday 12th August: Askim-Mysen (NOR), 119 km
Stage 5, Saturday 13th August: Vikersund-Norefjell (NOR), 127,4 km
Stage 6, Saturday 14th August: Lillestrøm-Halden (NOR), 154,3 km
In Europe it will be possible to follow the race live on Eurosport 1, Eurosport Player and GCN. TV2 Norway (Norway), 6 Eren (Denmark) and Kanal 9 (Sweden) will also transmit live from all the stages.
