"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
Cycling
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."
Abrahamsen beat Mauro Schmid to win stage 11 of this year's Tour. @Sirotti
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- JV is really slighting himself with not doing the 1 dayers.. 🤷
leedorney02-11-2026 - Watch the interview on youtube. I don't speak French. I do speak English and Spanish and you can hear it in his voice. Years ago LeMond had real personal problems I imagine in no small part because of Armstrong. then Armstrong goes round "full blast" re: LeMond having drinking and drug problems. The same way Andreu was expelled from mainstream cycling so was LeMond. On the positive side the clips of the ride and chatting with old teammates and was good. To seemed like a fun day and experience and good reason brush up his French.atom02-11-2026
- and another no-news article around the ‚2 tokyo jogging rounds‘ headline, this time spiced with some days old ‚news‘ that the LA and japan vacation trips come during or after the tdf route release. i am getting more and more annoyed by this time-stealing no-news crap. but who am i to complain? nobody forces me to come back for more ‚news‘ day after day …Ketterechts02-11-2026
- It would likely be a very steep section of 4.1 km, not changing the average gradient considerably, with the climb remaining 10.1 km at 11.8%. It would reach 20% on the gravel. It would start 1.6 km in, and finish with 4.2 km left to climb (before the short final descent)
Rafionain-Glas02-11-2026 - Welcome to the off-season.
santiagobenites02-11-2026 - guillaume martin in this list is quite a surprise as a gc rider.Ketterechts02-11-2026
- Who cares what Bruyneel thinks. He and his best mate Lance, the biggest fraud in the history of sport, have no place commenting on anything but how to lie and cheat!whit2pet02-11-2026
- Eeesh!Lozza02-11-2026
- bravo! a rider likes jonas needs motivation and he needs to believe in being able to reach goals. he - like anybody else in the world - doesn't believe that he can win the tdf with pogi present. and what's it worth for when pogi is not there? second class victory only. he has checked all three grand tours, so what is left if not retire? the classics! go for it, jonas!Ketterechts02-11-2026
- i am sure that under the pretext of medical examination a lot worse has happened when they were under.abstractengineer02-11-2026
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