"People have started to avoid the Tour because of Pogacar & co...": Uno-X starlet aims for meaningful GC result at Giro

The 2026 season is set to be a big adventure for Uno-X Mobility. Until now, the Norwegian team would have only done the Tour de France three times. However they were never invited to either Giro d'Italia or Vuelta a Espana. That changes this year though as the WorldTour team license comes with privilege and obligations, one of them to compete in all the GrandTours. While it puts the team's depth to a real test, it's also a great opportunity for riders such as Johannes Kulset who sets out to be Uno-X's GC leader for Giro.

The preparations for first season in WorldTour were a challenge in its own for Uno-X riders. While many teams were sunbathing in more cycling-friendly conditions around Calpe and Costa Blanca, the Norwegian formation spend four weeks in the freezing Sierra Nevada.

"It was for sure something new. My shape was really bad when I came into the altitude camp, but then we built it up slowly," Kulset tells Domestique. "It was a really good start of the training period, you get a boost in your shape that you can build on when you come home. When you start after the off‑season, you’re pretty motivated and ready to get those four pretty tough weeks done so soon. I think it was smart for me."

"I've worked a lot on TT," Kulset says. "I've had a lot of bike fits and we've tried different stuff to find a good position… and I've done much more training and efforts on it now versus before. My numbers are much better on TT than before." He's also rethinking how he trains day to day, ditching the old fixation with Zone 2 work. "Zone 3 is more important than Zone 2 for me," he explains.

The 21-year-old Kulset already has Grand Tour experience from his 2024 Tour de France participation. As a youngest rider in the race that year, Kulset obviously didn't have bigger task given from his team than to simply gather as much experience as possible. Kulset finished 47th overall, more than three hours behind Tadej Pogacar, scoring one stage top-20 from a breakaway.

"People have started to try to avoid the Tour because you know Pogacar, Vingegaard and Remco are there, the top three spots are taken unless somebody gets sick," Kulset says. "As for now, probably the Giro will be higher level from, let's say, fourth place to 15th place than the Tour."

At the Giro he won't have to face the Slovenian, but runner-up from that Tour edition Jonas Vingegaard will be there. However Kulset won't cross swords with the Dane this year. His goals are far more humble, perhaps fighting for a stage victory while trying to stay close to the top-10 in GC.

"I really like it… so many open stages," he says. "Instead of having nine sprint stages that are super boring and then four, five, six crazy mountain stages, they have now two or three crazy mountain stages and no boring sprint stages. It will be a really open GC, pretty close in the top 10 until the last three days."

"As it is now, I will be GC leader," Kulset says. "We will send a really open squad with a lot of breakaway and strong riders. Our idea is that everybody will get their own chance, and then when you're not in the break, you will fully support me. I will for sure have Anders Skaarseth as a road captain and kind of my super domestique because he's the ultimate helper," Kulset says, while Andreas Leknessund and Fredrik Dversnes both suit the Giro's breakaway-friendly profile.

And if the weather goes sideways? The Scandinavians will thrive, also thanks to their viking-style training in Sierra Nevada... "Bad weather should absolutely suit us because we are more used to it than others, we know how to ride with it."