Organizers have been forced to cancel this year's Tour of Scandinavia, citing "insufficient funding," but aiming to restructure and bring the race back in 2025.
The six-day race was scheduled to take place from August 27 to September 1 as part of the Women's WorldTour. The number of events on the top-tier calendar will now be reduced to 27 events and only 13 stage races.
In a press release on Friday, organiser stated that efforts were underway to restructure the concept of the event before making a return to the Women's WorldTour next season.
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"With heavy hearts, the board, together with shareholders and management, have concluded that it is unfortunately not feasible to organize Tour of Scandinavia this year," said managing director Marius Jørgensen.
"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. There is a shortfall of approximately 3 MNOK needed to achieve financial balance, and it would be irresponsible to plan for execution this year."
The Tour of Scandinavia was also held in conjunction with the Nordic Youth Challenge, which has also been cancelled. However, organisers plan to continue hosting local events such as Summer Cycling School in collaboration with Green Cycling and the Tour of Norway for Kids.
This year would mark the third edition of the Tour of Scandinavia, a stage race that grew out of the Ladies Tour of Norway to also include Denmark and (in 2022) Sweden. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig won the first edition of the event and Annemiek van Vleuten won the second edition last year.
Organisers had not yet announced the route for the six-day race, but the previous editions included mountaintop finishes at Norefjell. However, they stated that they now aim to reduce the loss associated with this year's event in hopes of providing predictability for all our partners and maintaining a place on the Women's WorldTour.
"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 application for WorldTour status in 2025 is already in place, which means that we maintain our status as a WorldTour race and retain the highest ranking among races in Norway," Jørgensen said.
Jørgensen said the organisation is already planning the route for next year while efforts are made to establish a more robust and long-term financial model through its partnerships and public grants. "This endeavour encompasses both national and international alliances, as Tour of Scandinavia enjoys prestigious status abroad," he said.
