Rolling out on the time trial course around Herning as the last rider to loud cheers from the Danish crowds, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-SUEZ) had a daunting task on stage 4 of the Tour of Scandinavia: She had to limit her losses to Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) to less than 12 seconds if she wanted to defend the yellow leader’s jersey. In the end, Uttrup Ludwig was 29 seconds slower than Van Vleuten, dropping down to second overall with a 17-second deficit.
“You always hope you can defend the leader’s jersey. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do that … but there is another day tomorrow,” she told Cyclingnews after the podium presentations.
