The Glava of Norway

Today the Glava Tour of Norway begins, a five stage tour around the Eastern part of Norway. The race builds on Ringerike GP, a UCI race several big stars have entered over the years, usually in the beginning of their pro career.

Glava - the main sponsor
Many of you are probably familiar woth much of the work being layed down to organise such an event. Many sponsors contribute in different ways, local corporate organisations use the event to marketing themselves both locally and perhaps trying to be recognised internationally as well. So what kind of company is Glava?

Glava is a Norwegian industrial company who "developes and produce market insulation materials and other products."  Using the slogan "Good insulation is envirmonmental protection”, GLAVA ® have a broad range of products for building insulation. The main product is glasswool which is widely recognised as the leading insulation in the world. Almost every house in Norway has these materials, yellow matts are roled out in the walls and on ceilings.The company also have other materials and experiments with differents foams.

GLAVA ® insulation for houses

Glava is one of the companies that supports cross country skiing and cycling the recent years, something marketing manager Øystein Kvam highlighted recently. The race director of Glava tour of Norway is Birger Hungerholdt. Ring a bell? Hungerholdt is Edvald Boasson Hagen's manager and he has been a key player in making the Glava tour what is is. As Edvald Boasson Hagen said to the local newspaper in Lillehammer today, "I'm not sure if stage 4 is buildt spesificly to me, but I guess Birger had me in his thoughts". But as Edvald discovered during his recon of the climbs, they are tougher than he expected. Although the race pass by Edvald's childhood home, not once but twice.

Read more about Glava on their website here.

Summary
The Glava tour is a huge race for Norway and is a leap in the right direction for cycling in Norway. The sport has been through a remarkable development with pros like Arvesen, Hushovd and now Boasson Hagen and Kristoff too are leading the way.
Hopefully you know what kind of company Glava is, tune in to watch the game, nothing is written in stone and I expect a fight all the way for the overall win.

Glava Tour of Norway's official website is here. 

Birger Hungerholdt - race director and EBH's manager.