Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx) was the big favourite to win the Tour of Scandinavia, but her GC ambitions fell apart on Friday when she crashed in the final of stage 4. Vollering and her teammate Niamh Fisher-Black finished five minutes down and received medical attention afterwards.
The crash happened just outside the three-kilometre mark, so the crashed riders would not receive the time of the group they were in at the time. After negotiating two roundabouts in quick succession, Vollering, Fisher-Black and their teammate Anna Shackley as well as Arianna Fidanza (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) and Justine Ghekiere (Plantur-Pura) went down in the middle of the peloton.
Shackley was quickest to remount her bike and finished only 52 seconds behind stage winner Alex Manly (Team BikeExchange-Jayco). Fidanza and Ghekiere came in 2:02 minutes and 2:15 minutes, respectively, Fidanza coming up to Manly during the post-race interview with a bloodied elbow to congratulate her teammate on the stage victory and say she was fine herself.
Fisher-Black and Vollering, however, only crossed the finish line five minutes after the winner and were attended to by medical staff after the race. Fisher-Black was treated for a shoulder injury while Vollering underwent a concussion protocol. Team SD Worx announced early on Saturday that Fisher-Black had suffered a collarbone fracture. Neither she nor Vollering will start stage 5.
Another GC favourite was also held up by a crash in the finale. With eight kilometres to go, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ SUEZ Futuroscope) had six riders crash right in front of her but just managed to brake in time and avoided crashing herself. She then chased back to the peloton and rejoined the pack 6 km before the line, eventually finishing in the same time as Manly. With Vollering out, the Danish champion is now the favourite for the stage 5 summit finish on the Norefjell.
