Follow Cykelvasan 90 Elit via live broadcast on Thursday – with seven former victors on the starting line

The long-distance mountain bike cup has been affected by cancelled races, and the Swedish MTB-XCM championships were cancelled. But when the time comes on Thursday to run the 2021 Cykelvasan 90 Elit, some things are different and some things are back to normal.

New for the year, of course, is the fact that the competition runs on Thursday, starting in the late afternoon. The women’s class starts at 16:15 and the men’s class at 17:00 The start is at Tjärnhedens IP, which incidentally was the Cykelvasan start place in its first two years 2009–2010. The last kilometres of the race will follow a slightly different course as cyclists cross the permanent bridge from the camping instead of the temporary bridge usually used.

The finishing stretch will be as normal and the track length is the same. The race will finish under the classic finish line portal at Vasaloppet’s House on Vasagatan in Mora.

Normally Cykelvasan 90 has 13,000 registered mountain bike cyclists. This year’s elite competition starts with about 150 registered participants since only cyclists with elite licences from the Swedish Cycling Federation may compete. (Mora info at www.vasaloppet.se) There may also be some wildcards thrown in by the competition management.

Favourites in Cykelvasan 90 Elit 2021
Women
Previous winners on the start list this year:
Elisabeth Sveum, Norway, winner of Cykelvasan 2019, @elisabethsveum
Hildegunn Gjertrud Hovdenak, Norway, winner of Cykelvasan 2014 and 2018, @hghovdenak
Jennie Stenerhag, Falu CK, winner of Cykelvasan 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2017, @jenniestenerhag
Emmy Thelberg, Team TCM, winner of Cykelvasan 2010, @emmythelberg

Five cyclists were in the running to win in 2019. When the spurt started by the belfry, Norwegian Elisabeth Sveum was in the lead and she kept ahead all the way across the finish line, ahead of the other four: Hovdenak, Stenerhag, Hanna Bergman and Nellie Larsson, @nellielarsson79.

Men
Previous winners on the start list this year:
Matthias Wengelin, winner 2009, @m.wengelin
Michael Olsson, winner 2018, @olssoncycling
Emil Lindgren, winner 2019, @emillindgrenracing

The Cykelvasan men’s class has some strong contenders in 2021. The previous two victors, Emil Lindgren and Michael Olsson, will have tough competition from Matthias Wengelin who won the Swedish Championship gold in MTB-XCO last weekend. Michael Olsson came third in the Swedish Championships while Lindgren aborted his race.

Vidar Mehl, @m3hl87, of Norway is back in Cykelvasan. He was fourth in 2015.

When Cykelvasan 90 ran last (2019) Emil Lindgren settled the race on the finishing stretch, winning the spurt. On his tail on Vasagatan was a record-sized group of over 30 cyclists!

Trivia: Also registered to start in the race is former alpine skier Hans Olsson, Åre, who has previously placed 150th in Cykelvasan.

Tip! Re-watch the Cykelvasan 90 2019 broadcast
vasaloppet.tv/video/8814273/cykelvasan-90-direkt

Start list 2021
results.vasaloppet.se/2021/?lang=EN_CAP

Start numbers women: 1–
Start numbers men: 101 –
(The top ten women from 2019 and top ten men 2019 have start numbers that correspond to their 2019 placement.)

Spurt prizes 2021
Spurt prizes are awarded to the first person, from both the women’s and men’s class, who passes any of the seven checkpoints in the Vasaloppet Arena: Smågan, Mångsbodarna, Risberg, Evertsberg, Oxberg, Hökberg and Eldris. A participant must finish the race to be awarded a spurt prize.

Kranskulla and Kransmas in Cykelvasan 2021
This year’s Kranskulla and Kransmas are Emelie Brudin and Gustaf Berglund.

Vasaloppet.TV broadcasting Cykelvasan 90 Elit live on Thursday, August 19 at 16:00–about 20:30
Host and commentator: Martin Sellberg. Expert: Linda Tufvesson.
Times:
Broadcast starts at 16:00 CET
Women’s class start at 16:15
Men’s class start at 17:00
Awards ceremony at 20:00
vasaloppet.tv/video/9738673/cykelvasan-direkt

Follow Vasaloppet every day all year round at
Facebook facebook.com/vasaloppetofficial
Instagram instagram.com/vasaloppet

HISTORIC FACTS
Cykelvasan winners 2009–, men
2009 Matthias Wengelin, Cykloteket RT, 2.43.27
2010 Magnus Darvell, Team Kalas/Pedalogerna, 2.39.00 (Record time!)
2011 Jesper Dahlström, Motala AIF Cykelklubb, 2.47.32
2012 Jesper Dahlström, Team Cykelcity, 2.47.20
2013 Fredrik Ericsson, CK Cykelcity.se, 2.43.01
2014 Johan Landström, Motala AIF/SCOTT 2.45.59
2015 Alexander Wetterhall, Team Tre Berg – BIANCHI, 2.44.35
2016 Lucas Eriksson, Serneke Allebike CK, 2.40.04
2017 Jonas Ahlstrand, Team ORMSALVA, 2.41.26
2018 Michael Olsson, Team Serneke Allebike, 2.40.16
2019 Emil Lindgren, Serneke Allebike MTB TEAM, 2.48.41
2020 Cykelvasan was part of Hemmavasan. No winner was crowned.

Cykelvasan winners 2009–, women
2009 Hanna Bergman, Falu CK, 3.09.05
2010 Emmy Thelberg, Härnösands CK, 2.54.53
2011 Pia Sundstedt, Finland, 2.56.19
2012 Jennie Stenerhag, Falu CK, 3.02.06
2013 Alexandra Engen, GHOST Factory RT/Jönköpings CK, 2.55.37
2014 Hildegunn Gjertrud Hovdenak, Norway, 2.53.44 (Record time!)
2015 Jennie Stenerhag, Falu CK, 2.57.22
2016 Jennie Stenerhag, Falu CK, 3.07.49
2017 Jennie Stenerhag, Falu CK, 3.05.26
2018 Hildegunn Gjertrud Hovdenak, Norway, 3.04.39
2019 Elisabeth Sveum, Norway, 3.08.41
2020 Cykelvasan was part of Hemmavasan. No winner was crowned.

The two with most top spots among the ladies would be Hanna Bergman and Jennie Stenerhag who have each been in the top three seven times; as for the men, Emil Lindgren and Matthias Wengelin each have five top three spots. Emil Lindgren can proudly say that he has the most top ten positions, having made the top ten a total of nine times. Matthias Wengelin and Hanna Bergman have both been in the top ten eight times.

Statistics: All top ten placements in the Cykelvasan competition class over the years (PDF)
pdf >

Cykelvasan’s development
2009: The first ever Cykelvasan 30, Cykelvasan 45 and Cykelvasan 90. The terms ”Vasaloppet Winter Week” and ”Vasaloppet Summer Week” are coined. With near 2,000 participants, Cykelvasan immediately becomes Sweden’s biggest mountain bike race.
2010: Cykelvasasprinten ran for the first time in Lindvallen. Barnens Vasalopp on bike (originally called Barnens Cykelvasa) for young children has also been arranged since 2010.
2011: The start in Sälen moves from Tjärnhedens IP to the Vasaloppet start in Berga by.
2012: Ungdomscykelvasan starts, a competition for youths aged 11–16 (run on the same course as Cykelvasan 30).
2015: Cykelvasan Öppet Spår is introduced, based on the winter version of Öppet Spår.
2016: First time the women’s class start in Cykelvasan 90 takes place before the men’s class start (previously there was a joint start).
2017: First year the race runs completely off roads with traffic.
2018: Cykelvasan’s races are distributed across three different days.
2019: Cykelvasan is arranged for the eleventh year in a row.
2020: Cykelvasan was part of Hemmavasan
2021: Cykelvasan Elit ran while others could complete Hemmavasan Cykel
2022: Registration for Cykelvasan 2022 and Vasaloppet’s Summer Week 2022 opens on September 26, 2021 at Vasaloppet’s website www.vasaloppet.se