"The team rolled out the red carpet for me" - Johannes Staune-Mittet enjoys his first professional victory at Czech Tour

Johannes Staune-Mittet was able to enjoy his first professional victory in stage 3 of Czech Tour. The talented Norwegian climber, who will be turning pro with Jumbo-Visma next year, thus moved up to 2nd overall.

The Norwegian attacked on the penultimate climb of the day on Saturday, after which he narrowly stayed ahead of classification leader Lipowitz and Rein Taaramäe. "The team rolled out the red carpet for me," the climber continues. "They rode very fast to the top and then it was up to me. We knew we could do this, but for it to turn out like this is perfect. It was always a battle with Lipowitz, because after my attack he was still very close."

"Fortunately I was able to hold him off," he ends. "I am happy that I could reward the very hard work of all my teammates. Now it's time to celebrate, but after that the focus has to move quickly to the final stage."

Unfortunately, Staune-Mittet couldn't live up to his ambitions on the final stage as he had to retire from the race at the beginning of the stage. The Norwegian developed an illness overnight that prevented him from fight for overall victory.