From Grand Tour near misses to Vuelta breakthrough: Andreas Leknessund reveals why he refused to believe he had won

Speaking on the Domestique Hotseat podcast, the Norwegian recalled how those memories stayed with him during his breakthrough Vuelta a España victory at Aramón Valdelinares. Even after attacking clear and quickly opening a gap of around 20 seconds, he was not ready to trust that this time would be different.

The Uno-X Mobility rider won at Aramón Valdelinares from a five-man breakaway, taking his first Grand Tour stage victory after four second places at the Giro d’Italia. Teammate Tobias Halland Johannessen finished second, with Wout van Aert third.

The Uno-X Mobility rider won stage 7 from a five-man breakaway, taking his first Grand Tour stage victory after four second places at the Giro d’Italia. Teammate Tobias Halland Johannessen finished second, with Wout van Aert third.

“I was like, okay, I think I’m going to win this. But then I realised I had the same feeling at the Giro, on the day Bettiol won,” Leknessund said.

“I attacked and had a gap, and I was looking behind and it looked like they were kind of stopping. I was like, okay, today I’m winning. Then I got caught by Bettiol and dropped, and he won.

“I also had a stage at the Giro a few years ago where I had the gap and was going to win solo in my head, and I didn’t.”

This time, the tactical situation was in his favour. Leknessund had Johannessen behind him, giving Uno-X two ways to win the stage and leaving their rivals with the responsibility of closing the gap.

“On paper he would be the strongest climber there,” Leknessund said. “It made sense to have the tactics that I go first and make someone else chase, and then he can go on the counterattack.

“Luckily for me there was no one strong enough to bring me back.”

The move had been fought for from kilometre zero, with Leknessund and Van Aert initially going clear before three more riders, including Johannessen, made it across. The front group spent much of the day holding a narrow advantage over a larger chase.

“There was no time to rest,” Leknessund said.

By the final climb, however, the tactical situation was firmly in Uno-X’s favour. Leknessund was alone up the road and Johannessen could sit behind the chase.

Even then, it took until the final kilometre for Leknessund to believe the stage was finally his.

“When I came over the top of the climb one kilometre before the finish and still had 40 seconds, I knew this would go all the way,” he said.

“With a guy like Van Aert, you never know if he comes from behind. But I still had Tobias behind, so I was not worried we would mess up the stage win. I wanted to get my win, though.”

The victory came on a significant day in Norway following the death of King Harald V that morning. Leknessund was careful not to draw too direct a connection between the two events.

“It’s hard to say we did this in honour of the King, because they’re two completely different things,” he said.

“We’re here doing a cycling race, which in this picture is a small thing. But as a cyclist and as an athlete, this is what you can do. There’s not any better way of responding to the situation.”

He said the circumstances also meant the victory received less attention in Norway than a Grand Tour stage win might normally have done.

“The media was nothing else than about the royal family, so I think we didn’t get as much attention as we would have on a normal day,” he said.

“But those who follow cycling and were watching the Vuelta probably appreciated it more on a day like this.”

Leknessund’s victory was also part of a season that underlined the depth of Uno-X Mobility’s squad.

The team won stages at all three Grand Tours in its first season racing both the Giro and Vuelta, with victories spread across a wide group of riders. Johannessen later won the final stage in Granada, while on stage 20 the team committed heavily to setting him up for the mountain finish.

Leknessund sees that willingness to race for one another as one of the reasons behind the team’s progress.

“We go eight guys with one goal, just to ride as hard as we can for one team leader, and we do that many times,” he said.

“Also this day when I won, to have Tobias there makes the dynamic completely different. He gave me the chance to get my win, and we fight for him all the next days.”

Rather than relying on riders who were already obvious stars as juniors, Leknessund points to the development of riders such as Jonas Abrahamsen and Johannessen.

“A guy like Abrahamsen, looking at him when he was 20, was nothing special,” he said.

“Tobias finished sixth at the Tour last year. He was a mountain bike guy. He was not a junior star on the road.

“You don’t need to find the big number one star. You just need to find a few talented guys who have the motivation to put in the work and then give them time to develop. I think that’s our success.”

Leknessund says the team still carries much of the same mentality it had when he first joined as a Continental rider in 2018, despite how far its results have come since.

“We still feel like this small Continental team from 2018 when I first joined,” he said. “We’re just these young guys who want to go out and ride a bike and have fun, and somehow we end up winning WorldTour and Grand Tour stages.”

Listen to the full Hotseat episode with Andreas 👇