Right until the sound of popping champagne corks could be heard in Paris, the eight Uno-X riders clattered down the stairs of the bright yellow and red team bus each morning in their first-ever appearance at the Tour de France with a tangible air of quiet satisfaction and pride at what they have achieved.
From veteran sprinter and Classics star Alexander Kristoff, 36, to 2022 U-23 World TT champion Søren Wærenskjold, 13 years his junior, Norway’s first team to participate in the Tour have not won any stages – their pre-race goal.
However, their fighting spirit has seen them a lot of praise from experienced rival team managers such as Rod Ellingworth of Ineos Grenadiers, impressed with the way the Norwegian Pro Continental squad is finding their way in the world’s biggest bike race.
Highpoints have included former Tour de l’Avenir winner Tobias Johannessen, 23, taking third in the Cauterets stage and a sixth at Courchevel. Jonas Abrahamsen was also part of the four-man breakaway that fended off the bunch at the finish in Bourg-en-Bresse earlier this week and Kristoff also notched up a sixth place in one bunch sprint in Moulins in the second week.
Uno-X team sports director Gabriel Rasch pointed out to Cyclingnews that the key thing is that the team are not letting themselves be overly impressed by the fact they are rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest squads on the planet, and that so far they have been keeping themselves in the thick of the action nearly every day.
“Obviously we’re a small team coming here, and we have hopes and expectations of a stage win,” Rasch said.
“But the way our guys have been riding, the way we’ve been attacking the stages… we have had many top tens and we still have eight guys here, all healthy. So overall, it’s gone much better than expected.”
Rasch said two key takeaways for 2024 have been established.
“We’ve learned that there are definitely opportunities we can take, for one thing. Secondly, we’ve been telling the guys since the start to save energy and I think now, after 18 days, they understand why,” he says with a half-smile in the interview which took place during the final week. “So that’s another lesson.”
“We have been smart in the way we’re riding, we’ve held the guys back and told them to save energy.”
Rasch, speaking ahead of Saturday’s brutal mountain stage then pointed to it as a way that may suit Johannessen, who indeed ended up coming ninth.
Rasch’s admiration for his team’s ability to defend themselves…
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