Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-SUEZ) has won stage 2 of the Tour of Scandinavia, beating Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar Team), Kim Cadzow (Team Jumbo-Visma), and Greta Marturano (Fenix-Deceuninck) in a sprint of four riders at the Norefjell ski resort after making the selection on the ascent of the west side of the Norwegian climb.
The Danish climber gave herself a late birthday present after turning 28 on Wednesday, accelerating out of the group of favourites 3.4km from the top of the climb to Djupsjøen, which was followed by 7.9 rolling kilometres.
Only Van Vleuten could follow Uttrup Ludwig, but Marturano and Cadzow (Team Jumbo-Visma) bridged on the last kilometre of the climb.
Nobody could get away on the rolling terrain to the finish, and at the 200-metre mark, both Uttrup Ludwig and Van Vleuten launched their sprint, with the Dane having the stronger acceleration to win the stage.
Including time bonifications, Uttrup Ludwig now leads the GC by eight seconds on Van Vleuten.
“It has not been the greatest season, but what a turnaround. This victory means so much to me, I’m super happy and really proud,” said Uttrup Ludwig after the stage.
“I wasn’t too nervous this morning, but I knew that today was going to be one of the most decisive days in the GC. I really wanted to do well, I’ve been feeling good, and I just love racing here in Norway. I really like this climb from both sides; it’s awesome. And we are heading to Denmark, so it really feels like my home tour,” she continued.
“The team did so well, they were protecting me from the wind all day, getting me bottles, and they really believed in me, they were all like, ‘come on, Cille, you can do it’. Yeah, this is really for them, I am just so happy,” the new yellow jersey finished.
How it unfolded
At 150.5 kilometres, stage 2 from Vikersund to Norefjell was the longest of the five-day race. The terrain was slightly rolling all day, but there was only one classified climb, the ascent of the west side of the Norefjell, cresting at the mountain lake Djupsjøen before another 7.9 rolling kilometres to the familiar finish at the ski resort.
Mia Rützou from the Danish national team animated the early parts of the stage with two breakaways, first joining Rebecca Koerner (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team), then attacking again after the first intermediate sprint and being joined by Tiril Jørgensen (Team Coop-Hitec Products), the lone escapee from stage 1.
Both were caught halfway through the stage, though. Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) and Lauretta Hanson (Lidl-Trek) got a small gap for a few kilometres, but other than that, there were no moves until the peloton hit the climb with 16.7 km to go. Just before the road kicked up, Norwegian climber Katrine Aalerud (Movistar Team) had to abandon the race after a crash.
Yellow jersey Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx) briefly set the pace on the lower slopes, reducing the peloton to 50 riders, before being dropped herself. Anouska Koster (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) was the first to attack, 14.1 km from the finish, getting a gap of about 40 metres on the group behind.
But when Niamh Fisher-Black (Team SD Worx) made her move with 12.4 km to go, the New Zealander quickly passed Koster, who could no longer stay with the group that had been reduced to less than 20 riders.
Élise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM) closed the gap to Fisher-Black, and then Uttrup Ludwig took over to set the pace at the front of a group of 15 riders. After an acceleration by Chabbey, Uttrup Ludwig countered with Van Vleuten on her wheel, quickly opening a gap on the rest of the group.
Chabbey tried to bridge across but could not quite close the gap. Instead, she was caught by Cadzow and Marturano. At the front, Van Vleuten had started to trade turns with Uttrup Ludwig, and Cadzow accelerated again, dropping Chabbey and slowly but surely closing the gap to the two leaders with Marturano on her wheel.
They reached the front group on the final kilometre of the climb, and all four riders worked to increase their advantage on the last stretch to the finish.
With 4.5 km to go, Uttrup Ludwig put in an attack on a short climb, dropping Marturano and Cadzow, but both quickly returned. Van Vleuten was next to make a move, attacking into another short rise with 3.2 km to go, and this time Cadzow had to chase for a kilometre before getting back on.
The young New Zealander then took her chance, attacking herself on the penultimate kilometre as Uttrup Ludwig and Van Vleuten looked at each other, but Marturano easily followed Cadzow, and the two favourites had no problems in catching up.
Taking a 32-second lead onto the uphill final kilometre, Cadzow led the group until the 200-metre sign where Uttrup Ludwig and Van Vleuten launched their sprints, and the Danish climber won the stage by more than a bike length.
Results
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