"Not my coach, not my boss..." - Tour de France stage winner reveals not even his own team believed he could recover from horribly-timed fracture

Jonas Abrahamsen is a very special rider, one of the most combative in the peloton, and his combativity has been shown also off the bike. Abrahamsen fractured his collarbone on the 18th of June, on the 5th of July he started the Tour de France, and on the 16th he won a stage. This, despite not even his own team believing he could have recovered in time.

"It's very special. At first, we were a small project with little money. We've grown year after year with good coaches and directors. Reaching the WorldTour is incredible," the Uno-X Mobility rider told Marca at the Saitama Criterium where he took part in this past weekend. "Being part of this from the beginning means a lot to me". With the advantage over Cofidis being so small, Abrahamsen's contribution was vital to the team's promotion to the highest level in the sport.

"The season was very difficult at the beginning. I was ill during the classics and thought it was going to be a shitty year before the Tour. I was very lucky to make it to the Tour, especially because I had a neck injury. But after winning a stage, everything changed," he said. 

The 30-year old discussed his injury, sustained in a crash at the Baloise Belgium Tour: "It was very tough. I was in great shape, coming off a great block, and then I broke my collarbone. In the hospital, I was just trying to breathe because I was so stressed. But I knew I was strong. No one believed I would be back for the Tour: not my coach, not my boss. But I believed it. I started working the very next day at home. And I did it."

Abrahamsen's race against time was one of the most interesting plots heading into the Tour, but the Norwegian not only recovered from his injury, but also kept his form and went on to take a majestic win over Mauro Schmid on stage 11 into Toulouse, with the two battling for victory from a successful breakaway whilst holding off the likes of Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert who chased behind.

"Since I started cycling at the age of 14, I watched the Tour every summer. In Norway, it's a big deal. In 2023, I rode my first Tour, and that was one goal. The other was to win a stage," he admits. "Achieving that meant so much. I couldn't sleep for two days because I couldn't believe it."

And having succeeded, there is no reason for Abrahamsen to stop racing aggressively. "When you're down, everything can go up again. If it rains, the sun will come out again. I'll stick with that idea."