SBS On Demand is the place to watch all the live action from the Ladies' Tour of Norway, with the
The top riders in the women's peloton are lining up for what looks to be a superb edition of the Women's WorldTour race, the Ladies' Tour of Norway. Four stages will see the riders tackle the first major summit finish in the race's history on stage 3 at the Norefjell ski resort.
Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) has won the last three editions of the race and will line up at the head of her team for the event. These days there are a few better climbers for the big summit finishes, but the rest of the stages appear to play perfectly into Vos' penchant for hilly, tough stages that end in a sprint.
Stage-by-Stage with SBS OnDemand broadcast details
Stage 1 - Halden to Sarpsbourg 141.5 km
Thursday August 12 - Live streaming to SBS On Demand
0000 – 0230 AEST (Friday early AM start)
A lumpy, if not quite hilly, day in the saddle for riders on the first stage of this year's Tour of Norway. Some uncategorised clibms in the final kilometres could be the springboard for attacks, particularly the teams looking to avoid a sprint. The last 600 metres rises to the finish line at 5.8 percent, it would be hard to see anyone besting Vos on this opening stage if a big group arrives at the base together.
Stage 1 Profile for the 2021 Ladies' Tour of Norway Source: Ladies' Tour of Norway
Stage 2 - Askim to Mysen 145.2 km
Friday August 13- Live streaming to SBS On Demand
0000 – 0230 (Saturday early AM start) AEST
The profile looks a bit more dramatic than the reality for this 145 kilometre stage, the hardest challenge for the stage is the first categorised climb for this year's race, the summiting of the 1.2 kilometre, 5.3 per cent gradient climb of Amundred. The final 150 metres is up a bit of a wall to the finish, but shouldn't stop the sprinters contesting for the win.
Stage 2 Profile of 2021 Ladies Tour of Norway Source: Ladies Tour of Norway
Stage 3 - Drammen to Norefjell 145 km
Saturday August 14 - Live streaming to SBS On Demand
2330 – 0230 AEST
Stage 3 profile for the 2021 Ladies' Tour of Norway Source: Ladies' Tour of Norway
The queen stage of this year's race, despite the length of the stage, 145.1 kilometres, it's going to all be about the final 11.1-kilometre climb to the ski resort of Norefjell. The 6.1 per cent gradient average doesn't tell the whole story, there are some downhills, flat sections and seriously steep pinches of up to 14 per cent.
Stage 4 - Drobak to Halden 141.6 km
Sunday August 15 - Live streaming to SBS On Demand
2130 – 0000 AEST
Stage 4 profile for the 2021 Ladies' Tour of Norway Source: Ladies' Tour of Norway
The race loops back around to the Stage 1 start at Halden with another long course to finish the race. Three laps of the final finishing circuit will complete a relatively easy day in the saddle, though the final sprint will be anything but sedate!
Key Riders
Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) will be the outstanding favourite for the event, following up her silver and gold medals in the road race and time trial at the Olympics with a dominant win the Clasica San Sebastian. She'll be the big favourite to win big on the climb to Norefjell, the question will be whether her rivals can put pressure on her and Movistar in other ways throughout the race. The Spanish WorldTour squad also has Emma Norsgaard, one of the form sprinters in the world at present for the flatter stages.
Australian Brodie Chapman, along with Marta Cavalli and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig will lead the charge from the field for FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope. Chapman was distraught after making a mistake in the finish of San Sebastian that likely cost her teammate Muzic a spot on the podium, but the combative Aussie won't back down from a fight and will likely be on the front foot here. The bombastic Uttrup Ludwig and consistent Cavalli will be ones to watch on the climbs.
Australian squad Team BikeExchange doesn't have its top stars here, with Grace Brown focussing on the world championships and Amanda Spratt not racing. Lucy Kennedy is making her return to racing after a nasty crash at Liege-Bastogne-Liege where she broke four bones and had a long recovery just to get back on the bike. She raced San Sebastian, a race that she has won in the past but without the form that saw her triumph there in the past, saying afterwards that it wasn't the return that she'd hoped for, which suggests that she's feeling good in training.
She'll likely lead the team in the fight for GC, with Slovenian Urska Zigart also a candidate after her stage win earlier in the year at Vuelta Valenciana. The Australian squad has other options for the flatter days, Sarah Roy and Arianna Fidanza are good sprint options, while Jess Allen and the retiring Janneke Ensing are ones for attacks.
Chloe Hosking (Trek-Segafredo) is making a comeback to racing after a long layoff after contracting COVID-19 and then with heart issues.
"Don’t expect me to be on top, but I’m happy just to be back," said Hosking. "I have some good memories from this race and my body is finally working again."
Hosking won a stage in the 2017 edition of the Tour of Norway, but has said recently on social media that she's just going to 'have fun being able to race my bike'. Lizzie Deignan looks to be the leader for the Trek-Segafredo squad.
Outside the Australians, the New Zealand climbers at the race will be very interesting to follow, and might be the best in challenging van Vleuten. The duo of Ella Harris and Mikayla Harvey (both Canyon-SRAM) have shown in the past that they can mix it with WorldTour competition, while Niamh Fisher-Black (SD Worx) is one of the brightest young stars in the peloton. The 21-year-old was the best young rider in a mountainous Giro Rosa, finishing ninth overall in the race.
Other stars on course for the Ladies' Tour of Norway will be Mavi Garcia (Alé BTC Ljubljana), Coryn Rivera, Liane Lippert (both Team DSM), Lotte Kopecky (Liv Racing), Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado and Sanne Cant (both Plantur Liv), who between them hold the last four UCI Cyclocross world championships. There was one major loss for the race ahead of the start, with Australian young gun Sarah Gigante (TIBCO-SVB) confirming that she wouldn't be competing at the race with some unspecified health issues.
