Annemiek van Vleuten wins Ladies Tour of Norway

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Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar Team) has won the 2021 Ladies Tour of Norway. After a solo win on the summit finish the previous day, her lead was never in danger on the final stage 4 and she won the title by 39 seconds over Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (SD Worx) and 50 seconds over Kristen Faulkner (TIBCO-Siicon Valley Bank)

"This morning I was waking up not nervous at all, because I know, when I have girls like these around me, I can feel safe, and I was never in trouble today. Having the team always around me is good. With the Grand Tours coming up in 2022 and the Tour de France, I think this team showed they know what to do," Van Vleuten said. 

"I didn't need to tell them anything, it was super good to ride with them and I felt so proud about their work. In the final circuit, it was a bit hectic, yet it was so nice to have the team at the front at all times there, which kept me really safe. If there were any plans to try and make up some time there, we showed the other teams that we could keep the front."

Two escapees were reeled in before the finishing circuit in Halden. There were a couple of attacks on the three laps, but the stage came down to a sprint in the end.

After being set up by her teammate Lucinda Brand on the run-in, Chloe Hosking (Trek-Segafredo), who returns to racing after recovering from a COVID-19 infection, launched a long sprint and held off Coryn Rivera (Team DSM) and Chiara Consonni (Valcar-Travel & Service) to win the final stage.

"I definitely did not expect a win here," Hosking said in a team press release. "I could see in my training that I was coming up and coming up, but I was really looking at Norway to help me build for the races that are coming alter. But honestly, I love this race, I love this stage, I have finished 4th, 5th, 6th on this stage before, so I think this is my fourth try, and I finally got the line right.”

How it unfolded

Stage 4 started in Drøbak at the narrowest point of the Oslofjord and finished in Halden, the hometown of the race, with three-and-a-half laps of a technical finishing circuit of 5.4 km that included many turns, short up and downhills, as well as a cobblestone section. The total distance was 141.6 km.

Right after start, Rossella Ratto (Bingoal Casino-Chevalmeire) and Julie van de Velde (Team Jumbo-Visma) attacked and were let go by the peloton. Working together, they extended their advantage to 6:23 with 96km to go before it started to go back again.

Back in the peloton, Alison Jackson (Liv Racing) beat Tanja Erath and Kristen Faulkner (Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank) to the third place at the first intermediate sprint, tying Jackson and Faulkner in the points classification. Later, Nina Buysman (Parkhotel Valkenburg) secured her mountain jersey by taking the remaining points on the day’s first classified climb.

The gap between Ratto and Van de Velde and the peloton had come down to 3:45 at 55km from the finish when Anne Dorthe Ysland (Team Coop-Hitec Products) counterattacked, but her solo chase was shortlived as the sprinters’ teams began to reel in the breakaway in earnest. Team DSM in particular took no chances and committed two riders to the chase in Wilma Olausson and Floortje Mackaij. With only one minute remaining of their lead, Van de Velde left Ratto behind with 30km to go, but the Dutchwoman was also caught at the 20-kilometre mark.

On the finishing circuit, Faulkner tried to anticipate the intermediate sprint with three laps to go, but Jackson jumped on her wheel and came past to win maximum points and take over the green jersey on the final day.

A crash brought down Mavi García (Alé BTC Ljubljana), third in GC going into the stage, as well as Julie De Wilde (Plantur-Pura) and Alexis Ryan (Canyon-SRAM). García was quickly back on her bike but could not catch up with the peloton again and ultimately dropped to 19th overall, losing her podium spot to Faulkner.

Brand tested the waters with an acceleration on the cobblestone section on the first lap but did not follow through. There were further attacks by Nancy van der Burg (Team Jumbo-Visma) and Shirin van Anrooij (Trek-Segafredo), but Team DSM and Valcar-Travel & Service closed everything down quickly.

On the penultimate lap, Movistar set a high pace to discourage attacks, and on the final lap, Team DSM took control with their sprint train. With Hosking in her wheel, Brand came to the front with 2.5 kilometres to go and did a long turn at high speed until she swung off 700 metres from the finish. Hosking then launched her sprint with 400 metres to go and held on to the line to win the stage.

Overall winner Van Vleuten naturally defended her lead in the UCI Women’s WorldTour ranking; Niamh Fisher-Black (Team SD Worx) won the U23 classification and took over the lead in the Women’s WorldTour U23 ranking. Emilie Moberg (Drops-Le Col s/b Tempur) was the best Norwegian rider, Team SD Worx won the team classification.