UCI Women’s WorldTour’s northern action

Heroines of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift such as Marianne Vos and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig took more glory in the Tour of Scandinavia - Battle of the North. Meanwhile Trek-Segafredo dominated the two events of the Vårgårda WestSweden.

Since the momentous Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift last month, the women’s peloton has kept surfing high waves as the racing moved North. In the first half of August, the stars of the UCI Women’s WorldTour tackled two Swedish one-day events, the team time trial (August 6) and the road race (August 7) of the Vårgårda WestSweden, and a stage race, the Tour of Scandinavia - Battle of the North (August 9-14).

In these spectacular settings, the strongest and most inspired riders led great battles at blazing speeds to add more success to their already impressive records of victories. Second behind Team SD Worx in the UCI Women’s WorldTour Team Ranking, Trek-Segafredo ruled Sweden.

Then, the Tour of Scandinavia - raced in Denmark, Sweden and Norway - saw Jumbo-Visma’s Marianne Vos (4 stage wins), FDJ-Suez-Futuroscope’s Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (overall victory and 1 stage win) as well as Team BikeExchange-Jayco’s Alexandra Manly, sharing the main prizes.

Swedish treats for Trek-Segafredo

Trek-Segafredo headed to Vårgårda following some strong performances in the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, although their consistent efforts at the front of the race didn’t meet a stage win (UCI World Champion Elisa Balsamo was 2nd on day 5) nor the overall podium (Elisa Longo Borghini finished 6th). But victory appeared to be the only option for them in Sweden.

Fresh off the Tour, Ellen van Dijk (UCI World Champion in the individual time trial – ITT), fellow Dutchwoman Shirin van Anrooij (best young rider of the Tour and leader of the UCI Women’s WorldTour Youth Ranking) and Audrey Cordon-Ragot (6-time ITT French Champion) were joined by Denmark’s Amalie Dideriksen (ITT National champion in 2020) and two Australian powerhouses, Chloe Hosking and Lauretta Hanson.

This impressive squad flew over the 35.6km course of the Vårgårda WestSweden team time trial (TTT), at 47.5km/h to take victory 38’’ ahead of Team SD Worx while Team DSM came 3rd (+49’’).

“Our performance was super special,” Van Dijk rejoiced as one of the greatest TT experts in history, holder of the UCI Hour Record timed by Tissot. “I think as a team it’s super special when you can win a TTT and go to the podium together and celebrate with the staff because you do it all together. It’s really a team effort.”

The next day, Trek-Segafredo lit more fireworks with a flurry of attacks on the Vårgårda WestSweden Road Race, until Audrey Cordon-Ragot (FRA) powered to the front with 20km to go, alongside Great Britain’s Pfeiffer Georgi (Team DSM), Belgian Valérie Demey (Liv Racing Xstra) and Marianne Vos. The latter was the fastest but was disqualified due to an illegal bike position in the finale.

“After the finish line, I had no regrets because I was beaten by the strongest rider in the peloton at the moment,” Cordon-Ragot said. “I was definitely not embarrassed to be second. But then I was told I was the winner and my name will be on the palmares. Chapeau to Marianne, because she was the first who recognised that a rule is rule and accepted the sanction.”

Northern delights for Vos, Manly and Uttrup Ludwig

Winner of two stages in the Tour, dubbed as the ‘greatest of all time’ with her hundreds of successes since the mid-2000s, Vos immediately bounced back to victory as the UCI Women’s WorldTour peloton made the short trip from Sweden to Denmark, and took on the six stages of the Tour of Scandinavia – Battle of the North, starting in Copenhagen.

The Dutch icon won the first three stages, on the flat and uphill, making the most of her speed and her unrivalled ability to score. In fact, she wasn’t done as she sprinted to her fourth victory of the week on day six.

“That’s beyond our expectations,” Vos said. “We wanted to win the mountain jersey here [Amber Kraak brought it home for the team]. We immediately succeeded in winning a stage, so that was very nice. Then we won three more stages. We could have never imagined that.”

Australian Alexandra Manly found an opening in Mysen (stage 4), taking her 6th win in a breakthrough year that not only saw her return to the highest level of competition but also display her many skills in victory.

And when the road rose to the highest summit of the Battle of the North, with a summit finish at Norefjell (11.6km at 5.6%), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig was the smoothest climber, taking the win ahead of German Liane Lippert (Team DSM), a couple of weeks after her stage win in the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.

“It’s so good, I’m so happy and so proud, the team did so well today. I was almost crying during the race, they were so good. We can be really proud of how we’re improving,” the Danish star said with her characteristic communicative joy. “We made it, and now champagne!”

Uttrup Ludwig moves up five places to 8th in the UCI Women’s WorldTour Ranking, which is still let by Dutchwoman Annemiek Van Vleuten (Movistar Team Women), winner of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.