“If you don’t have a professional race on TV, small children can’t see the stars” – Jonas Abrahamsen warns Norway risks failing next generation of cyclists

Norway can put riders on the top step of the Tour de France, yet Jonas Abrahamsen believes the sport at home is quietly being starved of the visibility it needs to survive.

The concern is not framed around medals, prestige or even his own breakthrough season. Instead, Abrahamsen is questioning what happens next, and who gets inspired, if professional cycling continues to drift off Norwegian television screens.

Speaking in an interview with Domestique, the Uno-X Mobility rider laid out a warning that goes well beyond one race or one calendar decision.

“If you don’t have a professional race on TV, small children can’t see the stars,” Abrahamsen said, pointing to a growing disconnect between international success and domestic exposure.

Abrahamsen’s argument is rooted in absence rather than failure. The disappearance of the Tour of Norway from the calendar, inconsistent broadcast coverage, and limited mainstream attention have combined to leave cycling increasingly marginalised in a country dominated by winter sport.

The scale of the issue frustrates him precisely because it is solvable. “It is maybe one million euros. It is nothing for Norway,” he said, arguing that the cost of sustaining a professional race and meaningful coverage is negligible when set against the long-term impact on participation and development. “It is so important for the sport.”

For Abrahamsen, the consequences are generational. Without visible role models, cycling struggles to compete for attention, regardless of how well Norwegian riders perform abroad. “Norway has always loved winter sports,” he added. “It can love cycling too.”

Those words carry extra weight given Abrahamsen’s own trajectory. His Tour de France stage win in Toulouse was not a romantic one off, but the product of accumulated experience and correction. He has spoken openly about learning from mistakes made in previous Tours, adjusting his sprint timing after going too early in 2023 and approaching decisive moments with greater restraint.

“If I used my energy before the sprint, I could not win,” he said, describing a victory built on patience and calculation rather than impulse.

That same clarity applies to his return from injury earlier in the season. After fracturing his collarbone shortly before the Tour, Abrahamsen sought a definitive medical answer rather than gambling on instinct. “It was nice to have a specialist saying you are good to go or not,” he said, before returning to training almost immediately. The result was not just participation, but success on cycling’s biggest stage.

Abrahamsen’s perspective is also shaped by his long association with Uno-X Mobility, a project he has watched grow from domestic roots into a WorldTour presence. He credits the influence of experienced figures such as Alexander Kristoff for embedding standards around effort and professionalism, describing how behaviour rather than rhetoric set the tone within the team. “Every time he is in a race he gives everything,” Abrahamsen said.

With that progress, however, comes expectation. “We need more riders to take the step to victories,” he added, acknowledging that opportunity alone does not guarantee results. The team’s WorldTour status was earned through sustained pressure and late-season points battles, not handed out by reputation.

Abrahamsen is careful not to frame his comments as resentment. Instead, they read as a warning from someone who has seen both sides of the system. Internationally, Norwegian cycling is thriving. Domestically, he fears it is becoming invisible.

“It is so shit,” he said of the current situation, returning to the core issue of exposure. Without races on television, without a consistent domestic presence, the pathway risks narrowing before it ever begins.

For Abrahamsen, the danger is simple. Success that cannot be seen struggles to inspire, and a sport without visible stars rarely produces new ones.