The Swedish Championships in highway pace is the first championship to be held in the summer of 2020 since the corona pandemic. But a lot of work has been required to find solutions to the current restrictions.

- Opening the Swedish cycling season feels very fun even if it gets a little special framed. Being forced to make adjustments to the original layout has been a challenge, but a special year, to say the least. We still get through a good competition for all classes, except for 70+, says Alexander Wetterhall, who is the assistant national captain for road cycling and project manager for Tempo-SM in a press release.

Security restrictions

According to the recommendations, a maximum of 50 participants may be on the track at the same time and after the finish the participants are asked to leave the competition. There will be no shower and changing rooms and competitors will be asked to bring only one accompanying person. There will be no award ceremony and audiences are not welcome.

- What is important now is that people keep the restrictions and respect their start times but still arrive on time so you have time to make measurements. We do not want to attract more people than those who will compete, which of course feels quite the opposite, says Alexander Wetterhall.

Multiple gold medalists with

SM Tempo is organized by the Swedish Cycling Federation and 317 cyclists are registered. Lisa Nordén, Olympic medalist in Triathlon and three-time Swedish Championship champion in highway pace participates for the fourth time.

So does the reigning champion Tobias Ludvigsson, who has taken three straight golds at highway pace. Tobias Ludvigsson is a resident of Huskvarna but belongs to the French team Groupama with qualifications from the Tour de France, Vuelta de España and Giro d'Italia.