Thor Hushovd explains Uno-X’s Tour success as team vow to hold yellow

Træen delivered a historic moment for Uno-X on stage 4 to Foix, finishing eighth from the breakaway on a day won by Mads Pedersen, but doing enough to take the overall race lead. 

The Norwegian started the day 24th overall, 5:34 behind Tadej Pogačar, yet ended it in yellow after UAE Team Emirates-XRG allowed the breakaway enough freedom to contest the stage and reshape the general classification.

Speaking to Cyclism’Actu ahead of stage 5, Hushovd was asked how to explain Uno-X’s rise, given the progress the team has shown over the last two seasons.

“I don’t know exactly,” Hushovd said. “I think, as I’ve said before, we work well. We have good coaches, we have invested a lot in the coaches and in everything around performance. And we also have a very good atmosphere in the team.”

For Hushovd, general manager of Uno-X Mobility, that atmosphere is important. The team’s Tour group is built around a close Scandinavian core, with Norwegian and Danish riders who know each other well and seem to thrive in each other’s company.

“It feels a bit like they are on a small trip with friends,” Hushovd explained. “I think that counts too.”

The former world champion also pointed to the impact of Uno-X’s stage victory at the Tour de France as a key turning point for the team. That breakthrough came in 2025 through Jonas Abrahamsen, and once a squad wins on cycling’s biggest stage, the psychological barrier changes.

“When you win a stage at the Tour, it gives you proof,” Hushovd said. “Not power exactly, but proof that everyone can win. It shows that we can do something in the biggest events, in the biggest race in the world. That gives confidence to everyone.”

That confidence is now being carried all the way into the yellow jersey. Træen has already worn a Grand Tour leader’s jersey at the Vuelta, but the Tour is different, and Hushovd knows better than most what comes with it.

“The green jersey, I know. The yellow jersey, fortunately, I also know,” he said. “We will take good care of it, respect the jersey and try to keep it with us for as long as possible.”

There are parallels with last year’s Vuelta a España, where Træen took the red leader’s jersey from the breakaway on stage 6, carried it until the first rest day and went on to finish ninth overall. Asked whether Uno-X would now try to follow a similar approach at the Tour, Hushovd kept the answer simple.

“We will try,” he said. “For as long as possible. And I think we can succeed.”

Træen himself was cautious after the stage, insisting that the team still has another clear priority in Tobias Halland Johannessen. “We have to take it day by day. We are lucky to have Tobias here. I think he is quite a good climber. My normal role is to support him,” Træen said after taking yellow.

That makes his position in the race intriguing. On paper, Johannessen remains Uno-X’s protected general classification rider. But Træen is no ordinary breakaway leader. 

He has already proven he can handle long climbs and high mountains, not only by finishing ninth at the 2025 Vuelta, but also by winning a mountain stage at the 2024 Tour de Suisse on the Gotthard Pass. He was also eighth at the Critérium du Dauphiné in 2023 and ninth at the Volta a Catalunya in 2022.

With Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard still expected to dominate the fight for overall victory, Træen is unlikely to be treated as a direct threat for the yellow jersey in Paris. But the time he gained on stage 4 still gives his Tour a different edge. Like Afonso Eulálio at the Giro, he now has the platform for a surprise GC finish.