When the Tour of Scandinavia announced plans to form a women’s event the goals were ambitious – a ten-day race that would highlight all three Nordic countries – Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Now, just two years after the inaugural edition, the race is taking a hiatus.
Originally named the Battle of the North, the Tour of Scandinavia was supposed to be the coming together of the two-day Vårgårda WestSweden – a team time trial and a separate road race – and the four-stage Tour of Norway. The two traditionally fell back-to-back on the calendar, and by combining them the organizers of the Tour of Scandinavia hoped to create a lengthy “Grand Tour” style race for the women.
The first edition was slated to take place in 2020 but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 edition was also cancelled. Before the race could take place in 2022, Vårgårda WestSweden dropped out, opting to run separately but ultimately folding after the 2022 edition.
“It’s a unique race concept which bridges the three countries’ culture, tourism, nature and local atmosphere into one big package of racing and experiences,” race director Roy Moberg said in 2022, ahead of the first edition. “Our key values are sustainability, equality, quality, local engagement, volunteers and destination marketing. We tried to put all these values on the table when we discussed how we wanted to create and develop this race step-by-step.”
Then, in early 2022, the race organizers changed the name from Battle of the North to Tour of Scandinavia due to Russia’s then-recent assault on Ukraine.
On Friday, race organizers announced the 2024 edition will not take place, but will hopefully return in 2025 with more “financial support”.
“Regrettably, this year’s edition of the WorldTour race, Tour of Scandinavia, has been cancelled due to insufficient funding,” the race said in a press release. “However, efforts are underway to restructure the race concept with the aim of returning strengthened in 2025 with a new race concept at the WorldTour level.”
According to the release, organizers would need 3 million NOK – roughly €250,000 – to hold the event as scheduled from August 29th to September 1st.
“Intensive efforts have been made in recent weeks to try to find solutions to ensure a financial basis for conducting the race, but we must acknowledge that we have not succeeded.
“By halting this year’s World Tour race now, we reduce the loss associated with this year’s event and provide predictability for all our partners related to the race. It also frees up time and energy to work on restructuring both the company and the race concept in order to develop a sustainable event at the WorldTour level for 2025.”
The race has already applied for WorldTour status in 2025 and hopes to hold its place on the women’s calendar next year.
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