Tour of Scandinavia stage 1: Lorena Wiebes sprints to stage win

The peloton’s most successful sprinter Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx) added another win to her tally on stage 1 of the Tour of Scandinavia.

Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) took second on the line in Halden, coming close but not able to beat the finishing speed of Wiebes.

Late attacker and defending champion Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-SUEZ) came extremely close to winning the stage, only caught by Wiebes and Balsamo in the final metres to be denied the win and take third instead.

The two finishing laps around Halden, taking in a climb and some cobbled roads, made for some attacking racing with several riders trying to get away before the finish and deny the sprinters, a feat Uttrup Ludwig came painfully close to pulling off.

Norwegian rider Tiril Jørgensen (Coop-Hitec Products) had been away solo for most of the day, riding well on home roads, but was brought back as the race reached Halden.

“It was quite hectic in the final because everyone was on the limit,” Wiebes said at the finish. “Liane [Lippert] was in the front after the climb with Cecilie also, and then a small peloton closed it and Cecilie went again and she held on long. But lucky enough for me it was good timing.

“I’m happy to be back sprinting after the period of sickness, so it was also a question of how the legs will be. But they are good.”

Wiebes denies Uttrup Ludwig at the last

Laying her claim as an almost home rider, EF Education-TIBCO-SVB’s Zoë Bäckstedt, who is half Swedish, was the first attacker of the day. She merely kicked off proceedings rather than dominated them, and after a battle to get away, it was Jørgensen who went up the road, becoming the day’s solo breakaway after dropping Femke Beuling (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB).

Happy to keep things calm ahead of the finishing circuits, the peloton gave Jørgensen a healthy lead of two and a half minutes, seemingly confident they could bring her back later on.

With 30km to go, though, Jørgensen still had nearly two minutes’ advantage, spurring Jumbo-Visma into action in the chase behind and once this happened, the gap fell rapidly and she was caught with 23km to go.

Entering the circuit and with Jørgensen caught, the racing heated up in the peloton. On the first ascent of the climb on the circuit, Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step) set the pace, drawing out the climbers at the front of the race.

Over the top of the climb, a smaller elite group had formed, but the climbers hadn’t yet managed to drop the likes of Elisa Balsamo and Lorena Wiebes going into the final 13km. With 11km to go, Agnieszka Skalniak-Sójka (Canyon-SRAM) attacked and got a gap on the main group, who slowed slightly and were rejoined by the second group on the road.

Hitting the climb for the second time, Liane Lippert and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig attacked to go around the Polish rider, with Uttrup Ludwig soon dropping Lippert and going solo with 4km to go. With little in the way of an organised chase behind, it looked as if Uttrup Ludwig could pull off a victory, but it wasn’t to be as the race entered the final 500m.

Once Lorena Wiebes opened up her sprint, coming around Elisa Balsamo to do so, the pair powered away from the rest of the bunch and around Uttrup Ludwig just metres to the line, with the Dutch rider easily sprinting to the win, her 13th of the season.

If you head to our Tour of Scandinavia landing page, you will find everything you need to know about the race, including our race preview, the route, and start list. Check it out for all that and more.