Opening day in Scandinavia gets spicy ending.

The opening stage of the Tour of Scandinavia saw 124.6km raced between Mysen and Halden in Norway. A testing final circuit saw a Cat 2 climb up to the Federiksen Fortress, repeated twice before a drop to the finish line in the centre of town.

The early riding saw the peloton ride relaxed with a solo rider breakaway up ahead. Whilst the lead went out to over 3 minutes, it was never a true danger for the stage win and was caught shortly before the race reaced the final climbs.

A fast run into the base by the WorldTour teams saw the peloton string out but Ella Wyllie and Natalie Grinczer were well position for us near the front of the pack. Whilst a small group of favourites crested the summit ahead, the group containing Wyllie and Grinczer were able to connect back before the end of the lap.

The second ascent saw Ella Wyllie able to stay in the front group but Natalie Grinczer just dropped out near the summit this time. As the front group chased down an attack for a sprint finish, Wyllie kept herself out of trouble and was able to finish 17th, on the same time as the winner.

For now, that puts Ella 3rd in the youth competition with the major climbing test to come tomorrow. Natalie was our next best finisher at 35th, 35 seconds behind today.