In the loop

We spend a short Swedish night circumnavigating Lake Vättern, in one of the world's biggest and oldest sportives

- Henrik Hågård

The importance of Vätternrundan would be impossible to exaggerate for Swedish cycling, at least without running the risk of hammering the keyboard into microplastics. Most roadies I know - myself included got their first road bike to do this 315km event. And in many cases not even because the cycling itself appealed to them in the first place, but rather because they wanted to complete a so-called "Swedish Classic". These include the Vätternrundan, Vasaloppet (on skis), Lidingöloppet (trail running) and Vansbrosimmet (river swimming). Unaware of the fact that in a few years they might consider it completely normal to have a bike more expensive than their car, they roll across the start line in Motala on the eastern shore of Lake Vättern, Europe's sixth largest lake.

For many of these people, Vätternrundan thereafter becomes the focal point of their cycling calendar. Either because of affection, or because they cannot stop chasing the white whale of completing the event in 'X' number of hours - 7, 8, 12, 15, depending on the person. I know people who train 12+ hours a week, and the one big goal they have with all of their training is to go as fast as possible around this mythical lake, as part of a so-called "sub X-group". Cyclists who have represented Sweden at the UCI World Championships have told me that when regular people ask them about their cycling, they do not ask what it was like to race against the best cyclists in the world. They ask about their best time at Vätternrundan.

Own goals