Tobias Halland Johannessen was in good shape to fight for victory on Thursday’s Tour de France stage, before going down 35 kilometers before the finish line.
He got on the bike and lost only about a minute to the close group. In the end, he finished 18th, just 37 seconds behind
– This was shit. I was like “damn, that’s possible?” when I was lying there. I know this year is not my year, summed up the emotional Halland Johannessen to TV 2, shortly after crossing the finish line in Barcelonnette.
Tears welled up as he answered the questions, and the profile of the bike from Uno-X was standing there with a heavy left shoulder scratched up.
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The 24-year-old was bruised, but said he didn’t feel much pain until he reached the finish line on stage. He could not say whether he has suffered any fractures since the accident.
– He looked so bright, he was finally in the final break. 35 kilometers to go, then he went straight to… I won’t say it, Christian Paasche exclaimed on TV 2.
Victor Campenaerts won the 18th stage ahead of Mattéo Vercher and Michal Kwiatkowski. Thursday’s test covered 179.5 kilometers from Gap to Barcelonnette.
Halland Johannessen drove strongly as they started the 18th stage. This ensured that the Norwegian Uno-X riders were able to join a larger group.
When the cyclists passed the first of the five third categories on the stage on Thursday, the break was established, and the main field eventually gave the riders a gap of over eleven minutes.
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Johannessen was the only Uno-X representative in the 36-rider break.
Among the competitors of the Drøbak cyclist were some strong names. Belgium’s Wout Van Aert was there along with, among others, Wednesday’s stage winner, Richard Carapaz.
On the way over the final third-category climb, several attempts were made to break up the field, none of which succeeded in reaching the summit.
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A group of three riders then established themselves at the front, which Halland Johannessen tried to join. Unfortunately, he went down in a corner in the descent and ruined his chances of fighting for a stage win.
– Maybe this is a dream that has been crushed for Tobias Halland Johannessen, said TV 2 expert Mads Kaggestad.
– Crushed a lot
Norway quickly got back on the bike, but then they had to settle for being part of the fourth group, well over half a minute behind the cyclists in front. However, Uno-X’s profile didn’t give up and quickly went up to group three.
– It is great to see that he has recovered and that the pain is on his own. You can see from his hand that it is stiff and tender, and that it is badly bruised. But we can interpret that as meaning that he hasn’t broken anything since he was on the bike, Kaggestad said.
Unfortunately for Halland Johannessen and the rest of his group, they were unable to cycle into the final, so the front three runners had to settle the win between themselves.
On Friday, the stage is set for a real mountain stage from Embrun to Isola 2000, where the riders will then have to overcome two uncategorized climbs, as well as the first categorized climb.
(© NTB)