A plan months in the making - How Uno-X Mobility grabbed double success at the Tour de France Femmes

Uno-X Mobility have a huge amount to celebrate at the Tour de France Femmes on Monday evening, with Sigrid Haugset putting in an enormous ride to secure not only the team's first Tour stage win, but pull on the yellow jersey, too. But this win was far from spontaneous.

In fact, Uno-X have had this stage circled for several weeks, and have been down to southeast France with Haugset to recon these roads, so they knew exactly what they wanted to do on stage 3.

Attacking more than 80km from the finish and riding solo for over half the stage may not have been the exact way anyone expected her to win, but that knowledge only boosted Haugset's confidence in the finale, which was essential when she had Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) chasing her down.

Once the emotional celebrations at the bus had calmed down, Haugset's DS and performance director gave their insights into the team's biggest win yet.

"We just said to stay focused, keep it cool, eat, drink, focus on a good line, and don't give up," Uno-X DS Nicolas Marche said at the finish, explaining what the team car was telling Haugset as Kopecky came within 10 seconds of her.

"As I say, we knew the course very well, she knew it very well, we came here to recon one or two months ago, so we knew exactly the route so we knew exactly - where it's important to keep energy and to pull. We knew also that Kopecky in this downhill will be faster, also a bit more heavy and stuff. So we kept believing, but it's just incredible.

"We really just encouraged her to keep going, no matter if Kopecky came up, it looked like yellow, so it was a win-win anyway," performance director Jesper Bundgaard Vinkel added. "So we just pushed her all we could."

Though many people may have looked at Kopecky as the strongest rider, her team knew the Norwegian had the strength to win.

"Sigrid is working so hard every day; she's a special girl, she's not been that long in cycling, so I don't imagine many people really know how strong she is," Bundgaard Vinkel said.

"I think we put in a lot of hard work, everybody in the team, Sigrid as well, and she's really a fighter. We picked this stage before the start of the Tour, this one and another one, to go full-in, and she did, and it was incredible that it worked out."

Their faith didn't falter when Kopecky made inroads, as they felt that Haugset was still stronger where it counted.

"Actually, Kopecky and Sigrid we saw on the final climb were a bit the same in terms of physical level, and then we had a very technical downhill where we know that Kopecky [is strong]. [Sigrid] almost crashed actually, and she [Kopecky] took time there. We knew that is a big strength of Kopecky, and we knew the final was actually always slightly up and down and really about the physical level, so we kept pushing," Marche explained.

"At 10 seconds we said 'Now it's you and a TT, and physically you are on the same level as Kopecky so just keep going and keep going to the line and don't give up'. We really believed in it, and she showed it."

Haugset isn't a name that all viewers will be familiar with, but those who have been watching carefully will have taken note of her impressive rides in hard races so far this year, with her results sheet probably not quite reflecting how strong she has been.

"She's just an amazing rider to work with, always happy, always smiling. A very hard worker, I think I never saw a rider working so hard, so dedicated to what she is doing, and I think now she showed to the world who she is," is how Marche described the 27-year-old, who only started racing professionally in 2022.

"I think she showed it already a little bit this year, her first year in WorldTour; she came from Continental, she developed. This year was a development process with her, we took the time, we don't put pressure, and I think in the Giro we saw what she's capable of. She was there to support, and at the end she had some impressive stages, especially the last stage of the Giro; she was with the best, it was all about physically.

"So we know what she's able to do, and that's the goal actually, to come to this Tour with Sigrid to actually take an opportunity like today and taking [the win] already today, the first one that we [highlighted], it's just unbelievable, and I think more to come. The Tour is only just starting."

Indeed, the Tour is only just starting, and so are Uno-X's ambitions. After achieving their goal of moving their men's team up into the WorldTour – and in fact winning a men's Tour stage in 2025 and wearing the yellow jersey this year – the next goal for the Norwegian team is about pushing their women's programme to the next level. Haugset pulling on yellow on Monday, even if she may not expect to hold it for long, is the next big step in that journey.

"We have a big goal in the team to win the yellow jersey in the overall in 2030 with the men and women, so I think this summer shows that we are on the way," Bundgaard Vinkel said.

Marche was similarly proud: "We are in the process of this goal and dream, but I think we are showing who we are now."

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