Tour des Fjords AS

Tour des Fjords AS was founded in November 2012 by Stavanger SK and Nordsjørittet AS, which are owners and Roy Hegreberg was hired as general manager. The company has organised Tour des Fjords for 6 years before taking over Tour of Norway. From 2018, they have also organised Hammer Stavanger and Haute Route Norway. Tour des Fjords was first organised in the autumn of 2013, as a further development of the Rogaland Grand Prix, which had been organised by Rogaland Cycle Circuit in the period 2008-2012. On the strong initiative of former professional cyclist Roy Hegreberg, Tour des Fjords was expanded from being a one-day ride to becoming a stage ride over several days. The municipality of Stavanger has been the largest public contributor in the early years. All start and finish sites have contributed, as well as county municipalities and local funds in Ryfylke and Hardanger. In 2016, Tour des Fjords entered into a 3-year agreement with TV2 Norway, which secured television broadcasts until and including 2018. Tour of Norway will also be covered on TV2 until 2021. Since the start in 2013, besides the professional race an amateur race has been organised every year, the Tour des Fjords Classic. A child´s race has also been organised at all start and finish cities. Now these events are under the Hammer name. The amateur race is now called Hammer Stavanger Classic (https://www.hammerseries.com/hammer-classic-the-race). Hammer Stavanger Kids, Hammer Stavanger Youth and Hammer Stavanger family are also organised the same weekend (https://www.hammerseries.com/family-events). In 2015 and 2016, Peloton Sykkelstart took place at Stavanger Forum. Peloton is TV2's kick-off ahead of the cycling season and is a collaboration between Tour des Fjords, Stavanger Forum, Nordsjørittet and TV2. The footage from Peloton was later shown on TV2. The race expanded with visiting another county passing by Sogn og Fjordane for the first time in 2017. The same year, a strategic and long-term cooperation agreement with Velon was signed which secured the rights to arrange the Hammer Series, an innovative cycling competition owned by the teams themselves. The agreement also guaranteed the participation of a given number of World Tour teams in Tour des Fjords, now Tour of Norway. After the 2018 edition, Tour des Fjords AS has taken over from Interspons the rights to Tour of Norway and the event became a 6-day stage race. The 2019 edition will start in Rogaland and then follow the coast eastwards through Agder counties, Telemark, Vestfold, Oppland and Buskerud. Read more about this year's ride at https://tourofnorway.no.