Women’s WorldTour calendar suffers blow as important stage race axed

The Women’s WorldTour calendar will be one race shorter in 2025 after the news that the Tour of Scandinavia will not take place this year.

The organiser of the race shared a statement on the race’s website this week confirming that the race had been cancelled and that the races' parent company, Ladies Tour of Norway AS, had been dissolved. The event had already not taken place in 2024 due to financial issues. According to the organiser the race had also received minimal support from broadcasters in Norway.

The statement read: "After last year’s cancellation, hard work has been done since last summer to revive the WorldTour race. We were well into the preparations with both the race concept, host municipalities, and not least international TV distribution, which looks very impressive and is in place.

"However, we must acknowledge that we have not succeeded in building a brand that is attractive enough to media, sponsors, and other important stakeholders in Norway. There are no national TV channels in Norway, like NRK and Tv2, who wish to distribute the race on TV despite us covering all production costs.

"Without national TV coverage, sponsors, and a federation lacking enthusiasm to support the WorldTour race at home, it becomes difficult to establish a sustainable financial platform and create the enthusiasm needed, both internally and external, to deliver a professional cycling race at the top level."

It continued: "We have dared to be innovative and have been an important driver for the development of international women’s cycling. We are proud of what we have created and happy to be remembered as one of the best and most recognised races on the women’s WorldTour calendar."

Annemiek van Vleuten won what is now the final edition of the race in 2023, with Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig triumphing in the first edition the year before. The Tour of Scandinavia was the successor to the event previously known as the Ladies Tour of Norway which first took place in 2014. Previous winners of the Ladies Tour include Marianne Vos, Lucinda Brand and Anna van der Breggen. Vos won the race on three separate occasions.

Despite losing the Tour of Scandinavia, the women’s WorldTour calendar will finally contain a women’s edition of Milan-San Remo this year, which will take place in March.