The Tour of Faroe Islands () is a

road cycling Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling in which cyclists ride on paved roadways. It includes recreational, racing, commuting, and utility cycling. As users of the road, road cyclists are generally expected to obey the same laws as ...

race held in the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

. The race consists of a men's, women's and juniors' competition over a

prologue A prologue or prolog (from Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "word") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier story that ...

and four or five

stages Stage or stages may refer to: Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper * S ...

, which are for elite cyclists and shorter distances for non-elite cyclists. From 2011 to 2013, the race was changed to four stages in three days. The first edition of the ''Kring Føroyar'' tour was held in 1996 but it was not an official race; the 1997 Tour was the first official edition of the race. The race is normally held in July shortly before

Ólavsøka Ólavsøka is the biggest summer festival in the Faroe Islands, and by most Faroese considered as the national holiday of the Faroes along with Flag Day on 25 April. Ólavsøka is celebrated over two days, from the 28th to the 29th of July, th ...

. In 2012 the race was held from 20 July to 22 July. The last day of the race is held in

Tórshavn Tórshavn (; lit. "Thor's harbour"), usually locally referred to as simply ''Havn'', is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of the city lies the ...

, and the roads are closed for traffic on that day. In 2015 the race will be held from 22–26 July. For sponsor reasons the name of the tour was ''Statoil Kring Føroyar'', and later when the Faroese company changed its name from Statoil to Effo, the tour was called ''Effo Kring Føroyar''. In 2014 the race got a new main sponsor and the name was changed to ''Volvo Kring Føroyar''. As of 2015, the length of the race is for elite cyclists and for youth and senior cyclists. The 2015 Tour of Faroe Islands started on 22 July in Tórshavn and ends also in Tórshavn five days later on 26 July. The route was as follows: Day 1: Tórshavn-

Runavík Runavík is a comparatively urbanised village in Runavík Municipality, Faroe Islands. It lies on the south half of the isle of Eysturoy. Port Founded in 1916, Runavík has an important port, originally used predominantly by fishing boats but n ...

(from Streymoy to

Eysturoy Eysturoy (pronounced estroimeaning 'East Island') is a region and the second-largest of the Faroe Islands, both in size and population. Description Eysturoy is separated by a narrow sound from the main island of Streymoy. Eysturoy is extremely ...

), day 2:

Klaksvík Klaksvík is the second largest town of the Faroe Islands behind Tórshavn. The town is located on Borðoy, which is one of the northernmost islands (the Norðoyar). It is the administrative centre of Klaksvík municipality. History The first ...

- Sornfelli (from

Borðoy Borðoy ( da, Bordø) is an island in the north-east of the Faroe Islands. Its name means 'headland island'. There are eight settlements: Klaksvík (the second largest town in the Faroes), Norðoyri, Ánir, Árnafjørður, Strond, Norðtoftir, ...

to a mountain on Streymoy), day 3: Sandur-around the island

Sandoy Sandoy ("Sand Island") is the first of the five southern islands that make up the Faroe chain, the fifth biggest of all the Faroe Islands, an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Denmark. It also refers to the region that includes this island alon ...

-Sandur, day 4: Suðuroy, starting end ending at the Effo-station in

Tvøroyri Tvøroyri is a village on the north side of the Trongisvágsfjørður on the east coast of Suðuroy island in the Faroe Islands. Together with Froðba, Trongisvágur, Líðin and Øravík it forms Tvøroyri Municipality. The village is considered ...

, the final day: starting and ending at Wenzel in

. The road racers at the 2015 tour come from the Faroe Islands,

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

and

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. The winner of stage 1, 2 and 3 of the 2015 tour was Torkil Veyhe, the winner of stage 4 was Dávur Magnussen, who also won the mountain jersey for stage 4 which was in Suðuroy. Torkil Veyhe won the 2015 Tour of Faroe Islands, it took him 12 hours 51 minutes to race the 460 km route, Guðmundur Joensen was runner-up and Bjarke Vodder Nielsen took bronze. Dávur Magnussen won the mountain-jersey.

Past winners

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

Official website of Tórshavnar Súkklufelag, the Cycling Club of Tórshavn
Men's road bicycle races Cycle races in the Faroe Islands Cycling in the Faroe Islands Sport in Tórshavn Summer events in the Faroe Islands