However, according to Cyclingnews, the team that finished 18th, Intermarché-Wanty, did not apply for a license for next year in expectation that its pending merger with Lotto will be approved. That makes Uno-X Mobility one of three Pro-level teams – along with the post-merger Lotto Cycling Team and Israel–Premier Tech (riding as Israel Cycling Academy) – to be promoted to WorldTour status.
Better late than never
This is a well-deserved reward for a team that has consistently punched above its weight and has been one of the brightest and most entertaining teams in the peloton, regardless of the race. Fittingly, its promotion – should it pass the other UCI requirements – was definitively achieved on the final day of the season with Sakarias Koller Løland’s victory in the one-day Veneto Classic, a victory worth 200 points. In addition, Fredrik Dversnes finished seventh in the race, adding 35 points. Coming into the season’s final day, Uno-X led Cofidis by only 210 points. Løland’s first professional win and Dversnes’ top-10 finish widened the gap to an unassailable 397 points.
“This is incredible,” Løland said after the race. “It’s going to take a while for this to sink in. I had a good feeling before the start today, and I’m so happy that we managed to finish the job.”
A celebratory message on the team’s website declared, “This is the moment we’ve dreamed of for years. A goal set when we first took our place in the professional peloton – to become the first Scandinavian setup with both men’s and women’s teams at the top level of world cycling. Now, it’s a reality.”
Zobrazit příspěvek na Instagramu
From modest beginnings
Founded in 2016 as the Uno-X Hydrogen Development Team with just a handful of riders, the team first rode on the Continental circuit, rising to ProTeam level in 2020. In 2021, the Uno-X Mobility women’s team was launched and joined the Women’s WorldTour in 2023. The men’s road was more difficult.
In 2022, the men’s team was invited to its first WorldTour stage race, the Volta a Catalunya, and got its first taste of success at the elite level: two of its riders finished in the final GC top 10, Tobias Halland Johannessen (seventh) and Torstein Træen (ninth). A year later, the team received an invitation to ride in the Tour de France, which was a major recognition for such a young team. Johannessen was again the team’s best finisher, 30th overall, 2:15:33 behind the winner, Jumbo-Visma’s Danish leader Jonas Vingegaard.
This year it also won its first-ever Tour de France stage, when Jonas Abrahamsen triumphed in Stage 11, beating Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert, among others. Abrahamsen won the stage just four weeks after he broke his collarbone in the Baloise Belgium Tour. “I was crying in the hospital because I thought I wasn’t riding the Tour de France,” he said after his historic win. “The day after, I was on the home trainer and hoping I could go to the Tour. Every day, I did everything I could to come back. So, to be here having won a stage of the Tour de France is amazing.”
A winning future?
For the team’s general manager, Thor Hushovd, who knows a thing or two about winning races, the achievement was one of the highlights of his career in cycling – in which he won 10 Tour de France stages, two Tour de France Škoda Green Jerseys, and a World Championship. “It’s hard to believe. You couldn’t have written a better ending,” he wrote on the team’s website. “This autumn has been such an emotional ride, and I’m incredibly happy with how it all came together. Sakarias taking his first pro win in the final, decisive race of the season – that’s a moment I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
“This has been a true achievement from the whole team, and real proof that we’ve taken another big step forward as a squad. Even with injuries to some of our most prominent riders, we’ve delivered a very strong autumn. The team has greater depth now – and is ready for even bigger challenges ahead.”
It will be interesting to watch the team’s progress as it tackles its new status. Uno-X Mobility is basically a one-day team, with an excellent sprinter in Søren Wærenskjold, who had six wins this year, including two stages and the yellow jersey in the Lidl Deutschland Tour. At 25, Wærenskjold still has room and time for improvement and will surely target a Grand Tour stage win in 2026. The indefatigable Abrahamsen is already 30 and may be just past his prime – though I wouldn’t rule out another Grand Tour stage win next year.
While winning races in the WorldTour is vital to the team’s future, its main mission remains “to nurture and develop the future talents of Scandinavian cycling,” as it declares on its website, adding: “Our commitment to fostering homegrown talent was the cornerstone of our foundation, and it remains pivotal to our philosophy today.” Its success will likely breed more success, for surely more Scandinavian boys and girls will be inspired by the team’s standing among the sport’s elite. This should make Uno-X Mobility a force to be reckoned with in the peloton for years to come.
