The Tour of Norway – not to be confused with the Arctic Race of Norway – has come to an end this year, not renewed due to financial constraints. Alexander Kristoff, one of the country’s best ever riders, has retired from the sport this winter but deeply laments the end of the country’s top event.
“It’s a really nice race… many of the pros like to come back year after year. There’s nice scenery, good hotels and good food,” Kristoff said in an interview on the Domestique Hotseat podcast. It is not by chance that Kristoff got 12 of his pro wins in this race, coming back often not only to be racing on home roads, but also proving himself above the often strong sprinting competition that was present in Norway.

It was an event that was held at a high regard and also high level, in recent years taking up a spot in late May. Whilst shadowed by the Giro d’Italia, last year’s edition saw Matthew Brennan take a stellar GC win after being combative in the sprints but also survive the hilly stages in which he was attacked hard. It was an edition that delivered, howevet the spectacle is not what the race was dependent on for its survival.

“We’re doing more or less the same thing: broadcasting beautiful pictures, making a bike race in Norway, but they get the funding we are asking for, we don’t. But that’s life. Life isn’t always 100% fair, you know? That’s what I tell my kids.”

Around half of the budget for the race came from the Norwegian government but this year that was not going to be the case. Without the financial resources to maintain the event at the level it was for many years now, there was no option but to cancel it. In the future it may show up again.

Interest in cycling going up or down? 

Is this a result of Norways’ diminishing interest in cycling? The veteran doesn’t think so. “Cycling is quite big. We have a lot of people using bikes all the time. Also, racing is decent, but in general, everybody is biking to work or everywhere. For sure, it is a big part of people’s lives.”

It has competition against the other endurance sports where the country thrives in, mostly skiing naturally; but also running now. Cycling does not have such a front position anymore as it once had, specially when Thor Hushovd was World Champion, or when the World Championships were organized in Bergen back in 2017.

“Cycling was a bit bigger actually in Norway a few years ago. Now, when we have the Ingebrigtsens brothers running so fast, running has really peaked up here in Norway… But I feel it’s shifting a bit; I think the interest [in cycling] is also peaking back up. Last year, you saw more Norwegians on the Tour of France. I think interest is coming back up. So then it’s a pity we cannot manage to arrange a Tour of Norway,” he concluded.