'It felt like coming home' - Kristoff reflects on career farewell and Uno-X's influence on Scandinavian cycling

Alexander Kristoff has expressed deep satisfaction with his final season of his career, ending with the Scandinavian team Uno-X Mobility, as one of the best Scandinavian riders of all time, describing it as “coming home.”

Kristoff joined the team in 2023 and picked up twelve victories during his three seasons with the team, taking his final professional career total to 98. It wasn’t to be a fairytale ending in terms of reaching 100 professional victories for the Norwegian, who bowed out from the peloton when he abandoned the Tour de Langkawi following a crash.

Coming to the team felt like home for Kristoff, who reunited with plenty of familiar faces from the start of his career when he raced with Team Joker-Bianchi. “For example, Gino Van Oudenhove was my sports director when I was at Joker and Maxpo, when I was really young, before turning pro with BMC. It felt a bit like coming home, and it’s also nice to know all the new talents in Norway," said Kristoff on the Domestique Hotseat.

The team's predominantly Scandinavian roster allowed him to mentor and bond with emerging talents. "It's nice to know all the new talents in Norway," Kristoff noted. "I got to know them really well because I was teammates with many of them. It gives you a more personal feeling, and you cheer more for them when they race."

2025 will remain a monumental year for Scandinavian cycling as Uno-X Mobility earned promotion to the UCI WorldTour, and Kristoff played a key part with both his experience and his ability to get results.

“Yeah, I liked it. I felt like I was a good part of the team moving up to the WorldTour. I took the second most points in the team from the last three years, so for sure, I contributed a lot to that,” said Kristoff.

Kristoff also highlighted the fact that many of Uno-X’s riders are coming into their “peak” ages, and the fact that the core of the team has grown with one another should help make adapting to being a WorldTour team easier. He pointed out riders, including Tobias Halland Johannessen, who finished 6th at the Tour de France, and Jonas Abrahamsen, who won a stage.

“I think they're going to do well. Many of these guys are now at their peak age, so they should be at their best level. And before they were young, you know, we were a young team, but they grew older. And you reach the age where you should perform the best. Many of the guys are now in their best years. So I think we will see a lot of good results this year also from Uno-X,” said Kristoff.

It’s clear that Kristoff values the pathway that Uno-X brings to Norwegian and Danish riders, but also pointed out an interesting drawback of the team’s criteria, on the men’s side, of only selecting riders from these two nations.

“It may make it a bit easier for Norwegian and Danish riders to turn professional, I will say,” said Kristoff when asked about the nationality criteria. “But it can also be a problem for Uno-X in a while if we don't have enough Danish and Norwegian riders.”

“The price on the good ones will be higher because there is high demand. They know UNO-X needs them because they are maybe the only choice they have for this type of race, for example, and then they will get paid,” explained Kristoff.

Kristoff has also illustrated his desire to see Scandinavian cycling grow further by becoming the co-owner of the Norwegian continental team Drali-Repsol ahead of the 2026 season.

Watch the full Domestique Hotseat episode with Alexander Kristoff 👇