{"id":344169,"date":"2025-12-31T06:25:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T06:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/344169\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T06:25:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T06:25:11","slug":"if-you-dont-have-a-professional-race-on-tv-small-children-cant-see-the-stars-jonas-abrahamsen-warns-norway-risks-failing-next-generation-of-cyclists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/344169\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIf you don\u2019t have a professional race on TV, small children can\u2019t see the stars\u201d \u2013 Jonas Abrahamsen warns Norway risks failing next generation of cyclists"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\u201cIf you don\u2019t have a professional race on TV, small children can\u2019t see the stars,\u201d Abrahamsen said, pointing to a growing disconnect between international success and domestic exposure.<\/a>Visibility, not success, is the real problemAbrahamsen\u2019s argument is rooted in absence rather than failure. The disappearance of the Tour of Norway<\/a> from the calendar, inconsistent broadcast coverage, and limited mainstream attention have combined to leave cycling increasingly marginalised in a country dominated by winter sport.<\/p>\n

The scale of the issue frustrates him precisely because it is solvable. \u201cIt is maybe one million euros. It is nothing for Norway,\u201d he said, arguing that the cost of sustaining a professional race and meaningful coverage is negligible when set against the long-term impact on participation and development. \u201cIt is so important for the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Abrahamsen, the consequences are generational. Without visible role models, cycling struggles to compete for attention, regardless of how well Norwegian riders perform abroad. \u201cNorway has always loved winter sports,\u201d he added. \u201cIt can love cycling too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jonas<\/p>\n

Abrahamsen took Uno-X’s first ever Tour stage win in 2025<\/p>\n

A season that shows what is possible<\/p>\n

Those words carry extra weight given Abrahamsen\u2019s own trajectory. His Tour de France stage win in Toulouse was not a romantic one off, but the product of accumulated experience and correction. He has spoken openly about learning from mistakes made in previous Tours, adjusting his sprint timing after going too early in 2023 and approaching decisive moments with greater restraint.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I used my energy before the sprint, I could not win,\u201d he said, describing a victory built on patience and calculation rather than impulse.<\/p>\n

That same clarity applies to his return from injury earlier in the season. After fracturing his collarbone shortly before the Tour, Abrahamsen sought a definitive medical answer rather than gambling on instinct. \u201cIt was nice to have a specialist saying you are good to go or not,\u201d he said, before returning to training almost immediately. The result was not just participation, but success on cycling\u2019s biggest stage.<\/p>\n

Uno-X, standards and responsibility<\/p>\n

Abrahamsen\u2019s perspective is also shaped by his long association with Uno-X Mobility, a project he has watched grow from domestic roots into a WorldTour presence. He credits the influence of experienced figures such as Alexander Kristoff for embedding standards around effort and professionalism, describing how behaviour rather than rhetoric set the tone within the team. \u201cEvery time he is in a race he gives everything,\u201d Abrahamsen said.<\/p>\n

With that progress, however, comes expectation. \u201cWe need more riders to take the step to victories,\u201d he added, acknowledging that opportunity alone does not guarantee results. The team\u2019s WorldTour status was earned through sustained pressure and late-season points battles, not handed out by reputation.<\/p>\n

A warning, not a complaint<\/p>\n

Abrahamsen is careful not to frame his comments as resentment. Instead, they read as a warning from someone who has seen both sides of the system. Internationally, Norwegian cycling is thriving. Domestically, he fears it is becoming invisible.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is so shit,\u201d he said of the current situation, returning to the core issue of exposure. Without races on television, without a consistent domestic presence, the pathway risks narrowing before it ever begins.<\/p>\n

For Abrahamsen, the danger is simple. Success that cannot be seen struggles to inspire, and a sport without visible stars rarely produces new ones.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cIf you don\u2019t have a professional race on TV, small children can\u2019t see the stars,\u201d Abrahamsen said,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,128463,101,6549,133340,56,54,55,119291],"class_list":{"0":"post-344169","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-jonas-abrahamsen","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tour-de-france","12":"tag-tour-of-norway","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom","16":"tag-uno-x-mobility"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}