UNO-X MOBILITY

An entire country discovered cycling for good when the TV2 channel started broadcasting the Tour de France live in 2002, swooning over the feats of Thor Hushovd, the first Norwegian to don the yellow jersey (and, later, the world champion's rainbow jersey) and a ten-time stage winner who claimed the points classification twice. In late 2023, the "God of Thunder" joined Uno-X Mobility as its team manager. The enthusiasm of a nation that had traditionally channelled its unconditional love for sport into winter sports led to the creation of the Arctic Race of Norway in 2013 (with Thor Hushovd as its ambassador) and the launch of several continental teams, including Team Ringeriks-Kraft, which was founded in 2010, renamed to Uno-X in 2018 and promoted to the ProSeries in 2021.

Uno-X have striven from day one to nurture Scandinavian talent in the pro ranks before it moves on to bigger teams. For example, Tobias Foss, who became the first Norwegian victor of the Tour de l'Avenir in 2019 while riding for Uno-X, went on to ride for Jumbo–Visma and take the 2022 time trial world championship before moving on to Ineos Grenadiers. Andreas Leknessund was also racing for Uno-X when he won the U23 European time trial championship in 2020, repeating his Junior exploit from 2017. After clinching the 2022 Arctic Race of Norway on home turf, the man from Tromsø wore the maglia rosa for five days in the 2023 Giro (eighth overall) while competing for Team DSM. He returned home to Uno-X Mobility to stir up double trouble with Jonas Hvideberg, who was also riding for Uno-X when he won the 2020 European Road Race Championship, a year before clinching Paris–Tours Espoirs. Søren Wærenskjold went one better, claiming the U23 time trial world championship in 2022. Also a consummate sprinter, he is capable of shining in a wide range of race scenarios. The second Norwegian —after Foss— to add his name to the honour roll of the Tour de l'Avenir was another Uno-X rider, Tobias Johannessen, who managed to keep the Spaniard Carlos Rodríguez at bay in 2021 after grabbing the first of three stages in a row ahead of his twin brother, Anders.

The Scandinavian squad was therefore ready for showtime in the 2023 Tour de France, especially after it started to bring home elite Norwegian and Danish riders competing for foreign teams, starting with Alexander Kristoff, a four-time Tour de France stage winner (including the finale on the Champs-Élysées in 2018) and wearer of the yellow jersey near the start of the 2020 Tour, and later with Magnus Cort, who has claimed stages in all three Grand Tours.

Tobias Johannessen stole the show in Uno-X's Tour de France debut, taking third place in Cauterets, right behind Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard, after bagging the Souvenir Jacques Goddet prize as the first rider over the Col du Tourmalet, under the watchful eye of the French president, Emmanuel Macron. This superb climber proved his stamina over three weeks, cracking the top 10 at Courchevel and Le Markstein near the end of the Tour. Uno-X shone on all fronts in 2023, with Rasmus Tiller (eighth in Limoges) and Søren Wærenskjold (eighth in Paris) turning on the gas in the sprints, Jonas Gregaard (eighth on the Puy de Dôme) soaring up the mountains and slipping into a bunch of breakaways, and another rookie, Jonas Abrahamsen, coming in third in Bourg-en-Bresse. His most remarkable achievement up until then had been the 2017 L'Étape du Tour de France cyclosportive, which he had won on the Izoard —at 60 kg, he cut a rather skinnier figure than when he later turned pro (78 kg).