Tour of Norway
Tour of Norway, Handsling-Alba on the podium again.
The Tour of Norway is a brand new UCI 2.1 stage race. Brand new, even though there was a Ladies Tour of Norway that ran from 2014 to 2021. This briefly expanded to become the Tour of Scandinavia. Unfortunately lack of funding led to its demise and it returned to Norway. During that time the race was won by Marianne Vos (three times), Anna van der Breggen, Megan Guarnier and Annemiek van Vleuten (twice) and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig. So you can see that it’s the kind of race that some of the biggest riders want to win.
Which makes the results of the Handsling-Alba team all the more impressive. Handsling-Alba are a development team, which means they don’t have the money and backing of World Tour teams. Despite their relative small size Handsling-Alba have managed to secure some noteworthy results. The latest came at the Tour of Norway.
The new Tour of Norway took place over two days, with stages finishing in Heia and Stavanger. While stage one – Jorpeland to Heia – was only 96 kilometres, it packed in 1800 metres of climbing. Most of that climbing came from the three ascents of the QoM in Heia, which had riders looking for an extra gear.
Stage one Jorpeland-Heia
The race was run off under blue skies with beautiful views over the sea. Not that the riders had any time to enjoy the sights! The first climb of Heia had the bunch stretched and allowed a break of two to form. These riders – Tiril Jørgensen Team Coop-Repsol and Nele Laing of the LKT Team – worked well, but were caught as the bunch hit the climb for the second time.
With one lap to go, the pace increased and the bunch was down to twenty riders approaching the final climb. The AG Insurance-Soudal team then piled on the pressure up to the final kilometre. At which point AG’s Sarah Gigante attacked, reducing the group to six. Lauren Dickson of Handsling-Alba was straight on to her wheel, with four other riders biding their time behind her.
At four hundred metres to go, it looked like Lauren was going to pull off the win and pass Gigante. Unfortunately Gigante’s team-mate, Justine Ghekiere attacked and passed her. Lauren was able to hold onto Ghekiere and overtake Gigante for second place. A remarkable performance for the young Scot.
Stage two Stavanger-Stavanger
Stage two of the Tour of Norway saw the bunch racing five laps of a circuit. Each lap would see the bunch tackling the 300 metre, 9% Grisabakken climb; plenty of opportunities to cause trouble. As they had the leader’s jersey, AG Insurance-Soudal set out defend their lead from the start. For Lauren, the plan was to hold onto her second place amongst some of the top women’s pro teams.
As the race progressed the tough nature of the course began to tell. Two riders managed to escape the peloton and the chase was on! With a lap to go the bunch was down to thirteen, with Lauren keeping an eye on her competitors. In the end the break of two became one, Mie Bjørndal Ottestad of Uno-X Mobility. Ottestad went on to take the win by fifty seconds, with Lauren safely in the bunch.
Tour of Norway overall
Ottestad’s win on stage two, catapulted her into first place ahead of Gigante and Lauren Dickson. So although Lauren hadn’t lost any time against world-class competition, she dropped to third. That was another impressive result from to add to her first place at the Lincoln Grand Prix earlier this year. These are impressive results from Handsling-Alba, who are a development team, competing well above their level.
Lauren says:
Honestly one of the most intense weekends I’ve had, racing alongside the women I look up to and then trying to defend a GC position. Very hard days out, but we gave it our all and I enjoyed every minute! Proud of seeing how far we’ve progressed as a team and of picking up my first GC podium, with 2nd on Stage 1 and 8th on Stage 2.
Handsling-Alba say:
It has been an incredible few months for the team and in particular Lauren, but this weekend’s performance at the Tour of Norway was exceptional. In a world class field, Lauren showed what she is capable of, taking a stunning 2nd place in stage 1, missing out on victory by 1s on the finish climb against some of the best climbers in the world.
With all to play for on stage 2, a very hard and attritional day resulted in a select group of 13 riders, including Lauren, chasing the lone break rider. Being isolated with no team mates, Lauren rode extremely smartly with the world tour teams all being represented by several riders. She maintained her position within the lead group finishing in 8th place, to ensure no time loss and securing a mightily impressive GC podium. She has a huge future in the sport and is really show casing her capabilities.
Not forgetting of course her team mates, who all rode out of their skin in support. In particular Amelia, who was caught in a nasty crash and sustained some injuries requiring hospital treatment – get well soon Amelia, you’ll soon be back
Handsling-Alba
Handsling-Alba are riding on the Handsling A1R0evo. This UK manufacturer has sponsored many up and coming riders and teams. This is probably down to their owners roots, who was himself a talented elite rider before switching from riding to making bikes! Handsling’s bikes are designed, painted and assembled in the UK. The brand works with their Chinese partners to produce the A1R0evo road frame that the Handsling-Alba team ride.
This UCI approved frame is constructed with Toray T800 carbon frame, from Handsling’s own moulds. The frames are then painted, with customers being able to choose from twenty-nine colour options. Once that difficult choice is made, you can then specify components and fit. Read our review or Cycling Weekly’s.
