Meeting at Uno-X was not for Johannessen, but he still benefited from it in Vuelta a España

Tobias Halland Johannessen surprisingly managed to win the final stage of the Vuelta a España on Sunday. Uno-X went all-in for the Norwegian climber on Saturday, when he had to hold off Mikel Landa. On Sunday, it finally paid off in southern Spain, leading to emotional scenes for Johannessen.

"Yes, it’s bizarre. I really didn’t expect this today. We wanted to make it a very special day in honour of Magnus Cort’s final race day, and we really wanted to ride for him. But then, in the final lap, I heard that I was in the front group. I tried not to take turns in the group in case Cort could still come back, but eventually I saw that we had a gap," said the Norwegian.

"Eventually, I was so focused on that victory. I’ve been knocking on the door for so long — I think it’s been more than three years since I last won. It feels really special to do it on this day. Pff, I honestly don’t know what to say, I’m so happy," he said with tears in his eyes in Granada.

Johannessen beat Alessandro Romele of XDS-Astana, one of the faster riders in this Vuelta. "Beforehand, we had discussed how we wanted to approach it with Cort: the plan was to lead him into the final corner first. I remembered that from the meeting."

"I said to myself: I’m not going to do anything until I try to come out of that final corner first, and from there I’m just going full gas. I can hardly believe that it worked out today. It feels so good," said the proud rider, who claimed his first victory in a Grand Tour.

"We have had our ups and downs, but I think we made the most of every day. Andreas’ (Leknessund, ed.) victory was already very special, and yesterday was of course also a great day for the team. That gave us a huge amount of confidence.

"Everyone deserved it so much yesterday already; I was really disappointed last night that I couldn’t finish it off for them. That makes it even more special to be able to give the team this victory today."