Uno-X disappointed after being wrecked for the Tour de France
The case is being updated …
It confirms organizer ASO in a press release Friday.
– You are always momentarily disappointed, it is in nature by doing top sports, says cycling manager in Uno-X Mobility, Jens Haugland, to TV 2 after receiving the disappointing message.
The organizer had invitations to hand out to teams from the second highest level of cycling, where Uno-X is located, but those invitations went to the French teams TotalEnergies and B&B Hotels-KTM.
Uno-X had hoped for an invitation to the race which starts this year in Copenhagen, but will have to wait until 2023 before they get their Tour debut.
– It was the hope that they could become one after the strong start to the season they have had and the enthusiasm they have created in the cycling community internationally, so I am a little disappointed that they were not selected. It was a hope, especially with a view to starting to go in Copenhagen, says Mads Kaggestad, TV 2’s cycling expert.
Will seize the opportunity in the “consolation prize”
However, the team will be seen in a number of the world’s major cycling races in addition to ours, including in Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Flèche Wallonne, Volta a Catalunya and Critérium du Dauphiné.
– This was not a reach or never for us. We also spend the energy on a fantastic couple of invitations this year’s season, which is really a big step up for us from last year. We respect the decision and understand it. Consideration for French teams is important for a French organizer, but the hope was there. And the hope is not gone in relation to an invitation next year, says Haugland and continues:
– Then it is important to say that we are actually going to the Tour de France this summer. We’re going to the first Tour de France for women. It’s incredibly cool, the bike manager uses.
However, Uno-X received an ever-so-small consolation prize on Thursday, when ASO announced that they will ride the prestigious Critérium du Dauphiné, the stage race in June that several teams use as a run-up to the Tour de France.
– Now we can top that reaches in towards Dauphine. Imagine if Tobias Halland Johannessen wins Dauphine and then he is not taken out for the Tour de France. It had been a funny story, says Haugland with a smile.
Think Uno-X could stand out
At TotalEnergies, made for Edvald Boasson-Hagen and Peter Sagan, there was no surprise. They were a solid disappointment last year, but have spiced up the team with the entourage of the charismatic Slovak ahead of this season. However, B&B Hotels-KTM has lost its biggest profiles, Bryan Coquard and Quentin Pacher, before this year’s season, won only six bike races in 2021, and is not booked with a single triumph so far in 2022 – unlike Uno-X.
– Uno-X has reason to be disappointed. Rent sports, they are qualified, and you do not need Norwegian eyes to estimate that they had made a better figure than B&B Hotels in the Tour de France. They have done what they can – they have been offensive and driven well, and especially the Johannessen twins could be a real Tour attraction. Still, it would almost be the hook on the door for a French team not to ride the Tour de France, and it is important for French cycling to host the teams they have. In that sense, it is not surprising that B&B Hotels chooses, and I think that the whole cycling world, Uno-X included, is beautiful and that is how it is, says TV 2’s cycling expert Magnus Drivenes.
Although they have never ridden a Grand Tour, he believes that Uno-X had not done away with three weeks in France.
– I think it’s sad that they are not allowed to drive. It had meant a lot to Norwegian cycling and the interest in the Tour de France in Norway, at the same time I am convinced that they could have made a good figure. At the same time, we must not forget that Uno-X are relatively new as professional flags and that this is just the beginning for them. Tour de France place or not, the races they get to ride this year are many notches up from the past and they are really establishing themselves at the top of international cycling.
– Must try the vuelta
Participating in the Giro d’Italia this season has never been relevant, but now to make Kaggestad at Uno-X what they can to get an invitation to cycling’s third and final Grand Tour: Vuelta a España.
– They have to be offensive and try it. It would definitely be a big step in the right direction to participate in the Vuelta a España. It would have been good for them, and it is highly realistic to be developed, Kaggestad believes.