Tour of Scandinavia queen Liane Lippert (Team DSM) made the decisive attack at the top of Norefjell after an 11km climb. Only Cecilie Uttrup-Ludwig (FDJ-SUEZ-Futuroscope) could follow this German champion.

Lippert gambled for the win on stage 5, forcing the Danish champion to fight back and take the lead in the last kilometer.

"I was feeling really good and asked Esme [Peppelkamp] to pick up the pace. I waited for a steep gradient and closed the gap to Cecily. She was ahead on GC, so I put pressure on her and focused on the stage, but unfortunately she was stronger in the sprint," Lippert summed up the day. [It's] a little disappointing that I didn't win the sprint because that was my big goal for this stage. But I gave it everything I had and I'm really happy to finish second behind the best climber in the peloton on a day like this.

With this win, Uttrup-Ludwig heads into the final stage with a 17-second lead over Lippert, while Alexandra Manley (Team Bike Exchange-Jayco) is in third place overall by 44 seconds.

Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM) was the rider who fought back from Lippert; the 20-year-old Australian paced her teammate, white jersey Shari Vosuyi, midway up the climb, chipping away at the pack, and yellow jersey Marianne Vos. (Team Jumbo-Visma) was dropped.

On the steepest part of the climb, Bradbury made his move, but was unable to follow as Lippert and Uttrup-Ludwig escaped. Caught in a large group, Bradbury finished the stage in 10th place, moving up to 6th overall and changing into the white U23 jersey.

"Right after the start, I had to pay the price. I didn't really enjoy the climb. It was hard, but I am happy to have this jersey."

Stage 4 winner Alexandra Manley (Team Bike Exchange-Jayco) knew the finish in Norephiel would be a challenge. Instead of trying to keep up with the best climbers, she paced herself and kept her place on the podium by finishing fifth, 11 seconds ahead of Julie Van de Velde (Planteur Pla).

"The finish was very hard, and on the last climb I just focused on breathing and did everything I could to stay in the lead group. The girls did a really good lead out on the climb for me and Georgia. I'm really grateful to them and now I'm in third place on GC.

Norwegian climber Katrine Allerud started the Tour of Scandinavia as number one, as her Movistar teammate Annemiek van Fruten won the 2021 Ladies Tour of Norway. Arlaud had hoped to make a strong showing on the climbs, but was unable to challenge Uttrup Ludwig for the win, finishing 11th on the stage. She is now the Norwegian in seventh place overall.

"I felt good, but of course coming back from a period of no racing is not easy. I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't compete with Cecily. I expected more, but for me it's great to be back and be able to fight with the best. But for me, just being able to race with the best is a big deal. My goal today was to be at the front going into the climb. It was very hard for me to fight for position. The team supported me well," said Allerd.

The Tour of Scandinavia will conclude on Sunday with a stage from Lilleström to the race's home base of Halden.