In 2016, the World Classic Tour started on rollerskis with a collaboration between the Blink Festival in Norway and the Alliansloppet in Sweden.

The Tour took place until 2019, but during the last two years, it has not been possible to organize it due to pandemic reasons. But on Saturday, it’s time to begin the Tour again, which has been named Mitsubishi Electric World Classic Tour this year.

This season’s premiere competition is the 60-kilometer race Totenrullen in Raufoss, Norway.

“We are incredibly happy to be able to start the World Classic Tour again and to welcome such a strong sponsor as Mitsubishi Electric on this trip. And it feels fantastic that we can welcome both audiences and large numbers of participants to our competitions again. During these years, we have seen that cross-country skiing has gained an increasing place, not least in the media, and these are important steps to make cross-country skiing a year-round sport. We work closely with Swedish and Norwegian ski federations, and in both countries, there are major snow-related challenges during the winters. Hence, the rollerskis become an increasingly natural feature,” says project manager Baptiste Noël.

After Saturday’s premiere in Raufoss, there will be a break of one and a half months until Lysebotn Opp and Blink Classics on the first weekend in August. The Tour ends with Trollhättan Action Week with Alliansloppet at the end of the same month.

“We will also arrange a virtual challenge under the name World Rollerski Week. People from all over the world can participate. The concept is to challenge each other and collect the most kilometers and altitude meters for nine days in mid-July. The idea is to connect the riders from all over the world. We started the concept in 2020 during the pandemic, and it has been a great success, with participants from 23 countries and four continents. Participants can support their favorite Pro Team by kilometers, and in addition, part of the registration fee will be refunded to the teams,” says Noël. 

Two of the competitions will be held in Sweden in connection with Trollhättan Action Week. A 48 kilometers event and a race with individual start over 15 kilometers the next day. In addition, a sprint will be held on Friday afternoon, just like the weekend’s two competitions in the Swedish rollerski cup Smart Energy Summer Cup (which started in Falun in early June and continues in Linköping during the Swedish Championships week and then the final in Trollhättan):

“We are investing heavily in this year’s Trollhättan Action Week. In terms of the number of participants, we have previously had a maximum of 1,500 participants (2018), but it is difficult to know how many will register now after the pandemic. But we have several exciting news; secondly, we make an investment in a girls’ starting point; we have a large number of girls in Trollhättan who are now training to ride their first Alliansloppet. Then Patrick Ekwall will make an exciting start and raise money for the Breast Cancer Association. And there is the opportunity to race 16, 32, or 48 kilometers,” says Noël.

The elite competition is 48 kilometers, and there will be a strong starting field. Ski Classics Pro Teams will be on-site. In addition, the entire Swedish, German, Swiss national teams and the U23 national team from France will be in Trollhättan.

The Tour will be broadcasted in Sweden and Norway. TV4 is responsible for the broadcasts in Sweden and NRK in Norway.

Read more at www.worldclassictour.com 

Mitsubishi Electric World Classic Tour

• June 18, Totenrullen 60km 
• August 3, Lysebotn Opp Double Poling 7,5km
• August 4, Blink Classics 52km
• August 27, Alliansloppet 48km
• August 28, Alliansloppet Individual Start 15km