Neo-professionals to watch out for in 2024: Johannes Staune-Mittet - the grateful climbing artist

His list of successes in cross-country skiing is still just as long as it is on the bike. Anyone who manages to become Norwegian junior champion on the narrow slats, as Johannes Staune-Mittet did in 2019, is usually at the forefront internationally and has to fear competition from his own country. In the same year, the boy from Lillehammer also became junior champion in the time trial and, as a younger rider, finished eighth overall in the prestigious Grand Prix Rüebliland.

Staune-Mittet was therefore able to choose after he continued to compete in both sports in parallel in his second junior year in 2020. He received an offer from the Jumbo-Visma Development Team for the 2021 season. "And I grabbed it with both hands," he told the team media at the end of last year when he successfully took the next step and signed a contract with the Dutch World Tour team until the end of 2026.

Johannes Staune-Mittet: "Not sure if I'm right for cycling"

"I had a tough time at the beginning," said Staune-Mittet, looking back on his junior years. "I wasn't sure whether I was really in the right place as a cyclist." His brother Andreas, who was three years older, had also tried his hand at cycling, but ended his career after a year with the Norwegian continental team Joker. But Jumbo-Visma's doubts suddenly disappeared. In his first year in the U23 class, he secured a difficult stage in the junior race Ronde de l'Isard. It was now clear that he was developing a climbing talent.

>> Another neo-professional from Norway: Per Strand Hagenes

A year later, he won two stages in the same place - one of them in the team time trial - and the overall victory. But by this time it had long been clear what Staune-Mittet was capable of, as he had finished the Tour de l'Avenir in second place just over a month earlier. Only super talent Cian Uijtdebroeks was better.

So there was still a little room for improvement in 2023, when he was already frequently racing with the pros as a guest rider. He finished a difficult stage at the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali (2.1) just three seconds behind the winner in fourth place in the first chasing group. However, his focus initially remained on the U23 races, starting with the Giro Next Gen.

Norwegian wins Giro Next Gen with victory on the Stelvio

And that paid off. The 4th stage up to the Passo dello Stelvio was his. With the stage victory, won in a two-man sprint, he laid the foundation for his later overall victory, which he was able to defend with a second place on the second difficult mountain stage. As the Giro winner, Staune-Mittet was now also the favourite for l'Avenir. On the way, he collected his first 2.1 victory at the Czech Tour in the professional peloton.

In France, however, his luck ran out. He crashed on the first stage after a food bag got caught in his bike. It meant the end of the tour, but also the end of the season. He did not take part in the planned races at the end of the season in Italy - at least as a rider. "Although I couldn't take part in the race, I asked if I could still ride, even if I was just passing bottles. I wanted to give something back to the team, to finish what we had started together a few years earlier. The people in the Devo team are very passionate about what they do. And that enthusiasm is infectious."

With gratitude to the side of Vingegaard

At that moment, Johannes Staune-Mittet was full of gratitude. Jumbo-Visma had shown him the way and, with the contract offer after his junior years, had more or less taken the decision away from him as to whether he should now concentrate on cross-country skiing or cycling. Without knowing how the recently turned 22-year-old Norwegian would have developed if he had fully focussed on skiing, it doesn't seem to have been a completely wrong choice to go for the bike.

At O Gran Camino in mid-February, Staune-Mittet will contest his second race as a professional after the Tour Down Under, in which he and the entire team only swam along, as a helper alongside Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard.

Johannes Staune-Mittet

• was born on 18 January 2002
• holds a Norwegian passport
• is 1.82 m tall
• previously raced for Lillehammer CK Junior (2019 and 2020) and the Jumbo-Visa Development Team (2021 to 2023)
• will ride for the World Tour team Visma | Lease a Bike from 2024 and has signed a contract there until the end of 2026