Tour de France belongs among the most popular sports events you could find. The privilege to host even just a fragment of Tour in your country is sought-after and talks to have Grand Départ in your country always take place long in advance. With Grande Boucle’s diary full for years in advance (2026 Barcelona, 2027 Edinburgh, …), any plans are rather hypothetical. And Norway love to gain an upper hand in any future talks.

After a successful Tour of the country’s only professional team Uno-X Mobility, it feels like an ideal opportunity to pull a few strings. Trondheim sounds like a possible venue of this event in 2030, De Telegraaf infrorms.

“Are we in talks with ASO? I share my dreams with the Tour organization, and they know exactly what we want,” replied Uno-X Mobility manager Thor Hushovd. “We all saw how ‘crazy good’ the Tour start in Copenhagen was in 2022. I think we can do even better than Denmark.”

The likes of Jonas Abrahamsen, Tobias Halland Johannessen and Soren Waerenskjod have the qualities to attract masses to cycling. And in particular, to leave a lasting impression among the younger generation.

“Young people need role models to pick up this sport. My inspiration was Dag-Otto Lauritzen,” Hushovd admits.

“I was a child when he won a stage in the Tour de France in 1987, and the remarkable thing was that he came from the same village as me, Grimstad. He gave a nine-year-old boy, me, the hope that even someone from a small village in Norway could win a stage in the Tour de France.”

De Telegraaf saw Hushovd speaking with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. An insider is quoted as saying about the meeting between the two high-ranking Norwegians: “They discussed a Tour start, and there’s something else, although I’m not really allowed to say it out loud. French President Emmanuel Macron is open to a Grand Départ here.”