SUCH A FIRST! He had come so close to opening his WorldTour rider victory account in 2021 as he finished 2nd at the end of a long breakaway on a stage of the Benelux Tour, and in 2022, he finally rose victorious – no less than at home! Mathias Norsgaard earned in Aalborg the right to wear ‘Dannebrog’, his country’s flag, as he won the Danish nationals to many people’s surprise. The extrme-quality shortlist of the Movistar Team for the TDF prevented the Silkeborg native from taking the start in his home ‘Grand Départ’; however, his courage and commitment didn’t go unnoticed, leading him to a first GT start in La Vuelta – and many that will surely come in the future.

POWERFUL TALENT. At 2m02, Mathias Norsgaard is the tallest rider of the 200+ athletes who have been part of the Abarca Sports organisation in more than 40 years, as well as only the second man from his country to don the Telefónica-backed squad’s jersey -the first one being Gert Frank, in 1980-. A time trialist and a pure rouleur, following the Danish canons, he took the bronze medal in the 2018 U23 ITT World Championships -also finishing 4th in Yorkshire (2019)-, and also showed his excellent power with a long, successful break on stage one of the 2019 Tour de l’Avenir, ahead of the biggest world talents.

CYCLING AS A FAMILY. His is one of very few cases when a brother and a sister have been able to make it up to the same WorldTour outfit: Mathias, and Emma Norsgaard, a strong sprinter and rouleur, whose results soon made become one of the leaders of the Movistar Team. Emma’s husband is, coincidentally, a world-class athlete and a good friend of Mathias: Mikkel Bjerg, a three-time U23 ITT world champion, who usually trains with Norsgaard as the three spend the cycling season in Girona or in the Andorra mountains nearby.