The Tour of Scandinavia cycling race is on in 2022! After being delayed from 2021 due to the pandemic, the race has been renamed from the working title of Battle of the North to the Tour of Scandinavia. The race will last for 6 stages across Denmark, Sweden and Norway, with the race beginning in Copenhagen. The Danish Cycling Union has been working on a race like this ever since Amalie Dideriksen became world champion in 2016.
Taking place between 9th-14th August the race traces the coast around the Skagerrak and Kattegat bodies of water. The race leaves Copenhagen on the first day and heads north to Helsingør, famous for being the site of the castle in Hamlet. A quick ferry across to Helsingborg and a long transfer up the coast to Orust for the beginning of the Swedish stage. That stage heads further north to Strömstad, not too far away from the Norwegian border. The race stays in the southeast corner of Norway for 3 stages.
Tour of Scandinavia 2022 Route
The first Norwegian stage leaves Moss and heads to Sarpsborg via Son, Våler, the coast at Saltnes and Onsøy to the outskirts of Fredrikstad along the way. Friday’s stage is the so-called “Indre Østfold – stage”, with a start in Askim and finishing in Mysen.
The penultimate stage is the queen stage, which will be run on Saturday 13 August. The start of the toughest stage will be in Vikersund with the ski jump slope prominently on display. The race then heads to Noresund, where the 10km long climb up to the finish at Norefjell starts. We saw this climb in last year’s Women’s Tour of Norway, won by Annemiek van Vleuten. It’s expected that the GC will be decided here.
The final stage finishes with 3 laps around Halden, starting from Lillestrøm. This should be a sprint finish to the Tour of Scandinavia.
Thoughts and Quotes about the 2022 Tour of Scandinavia Route
“The development and level that the Danish female riders perform at today has never been higher. As a nation, in 2021 we were No. 3 on the women’s world rankings. You and we who love cycling deserve to see the world elite in Denmark. The level of women’s cycling has also increased significantly with 15 WorldTour teams and some of the most exciting races of the season. I hope that with this race we can inspire even more girls and women to practice cycling in Denmark”
DCU Chairman, Henrik Jess Jensen
Naturally star Danish rider in the women’s peloton, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig is happy about racing on home roads.
“My dream has come true and I can not get my hands down. It will be so cool to run a WorldTour race on the Danish roads in front of cycling-loving people, friends and family. I hope and believe that the showcase this race provides for our amazing sport will inspire more girls to get out and ride bikes. Both for fun and for competition purposes. It is an all-time opportunity for our sport to show off its best side.”
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig
