Olivia Baril (UAE ADQ) and her teammates achieved great results throughout the past week in all five stages of the Tour of Scandinavia between Norway and Denmark. The Rouyn-Noranda athlete took sixth place (1 minute 6 seconds) in the general classification after finishing 11th (5 seconds) during the last stage of the Tour on Sunday.
“It went really well, I’m happy with my place in the general classification. The courses were so beautiful in Norway, it was never really flat, there were always difficulties and it was very interesting,” Baril told Sportcom.
Baril was also happy to have been joined in the top 10 in the final standings by her 19-year-old teammate Alena Ivanchenko, who also finished the week with the best young player jersey.
In the time trial contested on Saturday during the fourth stage of the Tour, Baril finished 19th, 52 seconds behind the winner, the Australian Grace Brown (FDJ – SUEZ). A result a little below her expectations, she who believes that a better performance during this stage would perhaps have allowed her a better rank in the final classification.
“I would have liked to give a better performance in the time trial, I think I’m one of the best in the time trial/climber ratio. I think I could have made it into the top 10 that day, but it’s still not too bad,” she explained.
It was the Dutch Annemiek Van Vleuten (Movistar), winner of the most recent Giro d’Italia, who won in Scandinavia. She was ahead of the Danish Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ – SUEZ) by two seconds.
Baril also took third place in the final ranking of the best climbers won by Switzerland’s Elise Chabbey (Canyon//SRAM Racing).
On the Belgian side of the Renewi Tour, Guillaume Boivin (Israel – Premier Tech) withdrew from the last stage after suffering a heavy fall on Saturday. The 34-year-old cyclist preferred to rest rather than push unnecessarily.
“I fell really hard yesterday [Saturday] and today the body just wouldn’t. I think I can recover quickly,” explained Boivin.
Similar story from the side of Nickolas Zukowsky in the tour of Germany who withdrew before the fourth and penultimate stage on Saturday. The Q36.5 squad member had suffered from a cold during the World Championships in early August and was unable to recover 100% by chaining the Tour of Denmark and the Tour of Germany in the last few weeks.
Zukowsky and Boivin will take the time to rest in order to come back in force for the Grands Prix Cyclistes de Québec and Montréal scheduled for September 8 and 10.