Johannessen turns Cort farewell blueprint into first Grand Tour win

The Uno-X Mobility rider won stage 21 after a tense finale on the streets of Granada, beating Alessandro Romele (XDS Astana) in a sprint from a late three man move. It was Johannessen’s first Grand Tour stage victory and a win that came less than 24 hours after he had finished second.

It was not, however, a stage he had expected to win.

“I really didn't expect it today,” Johannessen told Eurosport after the finish. “We really wanted to make the last day of Cort's career really special and try for him.”

Magnus Cort was riding the final race day of his career, and Uno X had built its initial plan around giving the Dane one last opportunity. Johannessen therefore found himself in an unusual position when the decisive group formed on the finishing circuit.

Once it became clear Cort would not make it back to the front, Johannessen was free to ride for himself.

“In the last lap I heard that I was in the front group and I tried not to pull in case Cort came back,” he said. “But in the end I saw we had the gap and I was so focused on trying to get that win.”

For Johannessen, it brought an end to a long wait.

“I've been knocking on that door for a long time. I think it's well over three years since the last time,” he said. “It feels really special to do it today. I don't know what to say. I'm so happy.”

Johannessen, Romele and Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech) went clear in the closing kilometres after an aggressive final circuit had reduced the race to a select group. With Debruyne losing contact inside the final kilometre, Johannessen found himself leading Romele towards the last corner.

His tactics were borrowed directly from the plan Uno-X had originally drawn up for Cort.

“We had talked about how we wanted to do it with Cort, and that was to deliver him first into the last corner,” Johannessen explained. “I remembered that from the meeting and told myself I wasn't going to do anything before trying to be first into the last corner, and then just go full gas from there.”

It worked.

Johannessen accelerated out of the corner with Romele on his wheel and managed to hold off the Italian all the way to the line.

“I just cannot believe that I could do it today,” he said. “It feels so good.”

The result also completed a memorable debut Vuelta for Uno-X Mobility. The Norwegian team had already celebrated Andreas Leknessund’s stage victory earlier in the race.

For Johannessen, the win also capped a strong three weeks for Uno-X Mobility.

“I feel like we've been such a strong team,” he said. “We had some ups and some downs, but I feel like we solved every day as best as we could.”

“The win of Andreas was really special and of course yesterday was also a really special day for the team. We really got some confidence from that.”

Johannessen had come close again on stage 20, but was forced to let Mikel Landa go on the final climb. Missing out had clearly stayed with him.

“I'm so happy I could give the team a victory today because I felt like they deserved it so much yesterday,” he said. “I was so sad yesterday evening that I couldn't deliver it for them. So it's special to do it today.”