Johannes Staune-Mittet is currently in his first season with Visma | Lease a Bike, the 2023's most decorated team of the men's peloton. In his professional debut, he already got a taste of a bit of everything, which will only make him stronger, he tells IDLProCycling.
He first went to Australia for the Tour Down Under, where he supported Bart Lemmen. "Then I went to altitude training with the big guys," he says, beaming with pride.
After Tenerife, there was a week in the pouring rain in Galicia, at O Gran Camino. "Those are all experiences that will be very important for my future. The bad weather in Spain was no problem for me. I struggled a lot more with the heat in Australia. That was really tough, so it will always be worse than any weather conditions."
"It was an amazing experience to learn from the best cyclists in the world, and I would love to continue doing that. It's cliché but true: trust the process. I take my time, but I also go as fast as I can," continues Staune-Mittet.
"The guys in Coppi e Bartali said that positioning was very difficult there, but then I tell them that a race like that can be hectic, but it's nothing compared to Milano-Sanremo. The pace there is so high, and the riders are so good... I always raced in pelotons of fifty men, where I was strong enough to get to the front. I never learned to survive a race, hidden in a peloton. Milano-Sanremo was very important for me, I need to level up there to be competitive."