Stian Fredheim: from Norwegian snow to cobble glory

In the 2021 Junior Nations’ Cup, we have seen a very strong Norwegian team. Their standout rider was of course Per Strand Hagenes, winning both the One Belt One Road Nation’s Cup and the Peace Race, and later becoming the World Champion. Due to these excellent results, his team mate Stian Fredheim’s achievements remained somewhat underexposed. Fredheim came second in GC after Hagenes in Hungary, and managed to win a stage and the green jersey in the Peace Race. He saved the best for last though: on October 3rd, Stian triumphed in the epic edition of Paris-Roubaix Juniors after defeating Alec Segaert and Per Strand Hagenes in a nerve-racking sprint.

We caught up with Stian in a video call just after New Year, while he was preparing his first season as an U23 at home in Norway. Stian just came back from his first training ride through the Norwegian snow after recovering from COVID.

While the start of his ride was a bit difficult, things improved along the way, although he felt he was not fully recovered just yet.

How does a Norwegian boy decide to choose cycling as a sport? It is not exactly the most popular sport in Norway?

I got my first road bike when I was five years old. One of my older cousins got a new bike and gave me his old one. So I was riding it to kindergarten, and I really liked it a lot. At the age of 7, I started mountainbiking. I did a lot of XCO races, but also downhill and enduro. As a kid, Nino Schurter was my big idol. I wanted to be like him. Only when I was 14, I moved to road racing.

Do you still participate in mountainbike races now? More and more riders are combining disciplines.

No, I only ride my mountain bike for fun, in the off-season. But I really look up to Mathieu van der Poel. He can do anything on a bike, it’s really amazing. So maybe in the future, I can pick up mountainbiking again. But for now, I’m going all in for the road.

I heard about Cian Uijtdebroeks signing for Bora, and I thought I would be lucky if I could stay with the peloton.

Your two years as an U19 rider were marked by COVID, and the resulting restrictions. How was that for you? Were you able to train and race?

Luckily, we have always been able to keep training outside. But of course we haven’t had a lot of competitions. I think we had less races than the rest of Europe, and in my first year as a junior I didn’t race outside of Norway at all. In fact, before I took part Aubel-Thimister-Stavelot in August, I only had done one race in Denmark when I was 16.

So you didn’t know what was your international level.

Exactly, I had no idea. I heard about Cian Uijtdebroeks and others signing for WorldTour teams, and I thought I would be lucky if I could stay with the peloton in some races.

But that went a lot better than expected.

Definitely! In the One Belt One Road Nation’s Cup in Hungary, I was on the podium three times and finished second behind Per on GC. In the Peace Race, I won a stage in the sprint and took the green jersey. Actually, I was shocked a little bit, because in training I never sprinted that well, so I never had expected to be able to be in the mix for victory in the sprints at this level.

After that, you participated in the Worlds in Leuven. How was that experience for you?

It was absolutely amazing, with all the people and the cheering. I had seen the crowds on Kwaremont and the other hills in the Tour of Flanders on tv before, so I knew there was something really special about the atmosphere around cycling in Belgium. But to experience it myself, that was insane.

How about the race itself?

Actually it didn’t really go according to plan initially. Per Strand Hagenes was the leader of our team, and the idea was to save me for if it came down to a sprint. But in the first lap, there was a dangerous breakaway with Joshua Tarling and Luis-Joe Lührs (Editor’s note: riding for BORA next year). So all alarms went off in my head and I had to pull very hard to bring them back. After that, I could not maintain myself in the first group. But luckily, Per was very strong and was able to finish it off. For the first time in history, a Norwegian junior managed to win the jersey, so it was a huge success for the team.

For you personally, the best was yet to come! Paris-Roubaix!  Was it your first time on the cobbles?

When I was 16, I have been in Flanders with my school, the NTG (the Norwegian School of Elite Sports). A lot of Norwegian talents have been to this school, like Andreas Leknessund or Johannes Staune-Mittet. We did all the cobbled climbs, like Kwaremont and Koppenberg. I liked them a lot, and I had already planned to go to Gent-Wevelgem and Paris-Roubaix in 2020, but then everything got cancelled. So I didn’t get to ride the cobbles in France. I was really disappointed, because I really see myself as a classic rider. Of course, I was thrilled that I could finally take part this year. It was very special to ride my first Paris-Roubaix in those weather conditions. The cobbles were very muddy and slippery, I think my mountainbike skills helped me a lot there. And then there was that final sprint with the three of us (Alec Segaert and Per Strand Hagenes, red.). I had never ridden on a velodrome before, that as well was the first time. It was so close, and I was so happy to pull it off.

Has this victory changed a lot for you?

Well, the Paris-Roubaix as such not really, but this whole season has changed the way I look at myself as a rider. I figured that I’m maybe better than I thought I was. I didn’t consider myself to be a very good or special rider before the Nations’ Cups in Hungary and the Czech Republic. But there I feel that I have shown that I’m one of the fastest juniors of the world this season. It changed my mindset, I know now that I can do more than just follow the peloton and that I’m capable of fighting for the win in every race.

Did it also give you more options for next year?

I had been contacted by several agents who wanted to work me earlier in the year. I decided to work with TeamVision, and I had already signed for Uno-X in July. And I’m very happy with that, I think it’s a good place for developing. Now I’m in the Devo team and when I’m ready for it, I can move up to the Pro team. They also search for a WorldTour license in 2023. So I can’t think of a better team to be in and definitely don’t see a need to change teams in the near future.

What are your plans for the upcoming weeks and months?

In January I stay in Norway, and then in February I go to Spain for a whole month. The first two weeks we have a training camp with the Uno-X team. Then after that my classmates from the NTG are coming down and I’m staying there with them. In March, I will have my season opening at Olympia’s Tour in the Netherlands. After that, I don’t really know yet, I will get the official schedule at the next training camp.

I can’t wait to return to Paris-Roubaix U23 in May, and go as fast as possible on those cobbles again.

What are your goals and ambitions for next year?

I’m stepping up to a new category, so the main goal is to get used to the distance and see what my level is compared to the big guys. For sure I would like to get some good results too, but that’s not really a priority.

Is there a race you look forward to in particular?

The team is searching to participate in Paris-Roubaix U23 in May. I have awesome memories there, and of course I would love to return and go as fast as possible on those cobbles again. There’s also Gent-Wevelgem, but that’s a Nations’ Cup race so for that I need to get elected for the national team first.

Have you thought about the World Championships in Australia? Would you like to go there?

I haven’t really thought a lot about it yet, but I think the course could be suitable for me and I could help other riders there. So surely it would be nice to get elected for that too.

What sort of rider would you like to evolve to?

I really like those hectic sprints where it’s going fast and you have to fight for positions. But I don’t consider myself a pure sprinter. I’m really not that fast actually, but I have the advantage that I have the same power after 100K of racing that I have at training. So I see myself as a classics rider with a good sprint after a hard race.

Which aspects of your racing do you want to improve?

Maybe my time trial. I surprised myself a little bit in the Peace Race, where I placed 8th. Of course I lost the yellow jersey to Per (Strand Hagenes) in that stage, but I really limited my loss and I had not expected that. So if I can train more on my time trial bike and work on my position, I think I can still go a lot faster.

What do you want to achieve by the end of your cycling career?

Obviously I would like to win Paris-Roubaix, the elite version. Also races like Tour of Flanders and Gent-Wevelgem are high on my list. I would also like to go to the Tour de France, not as a GC rider but to go for stage wins and help others. There is something special about the Grand Tours, just to be in them.

Thank you for talking to us Stian, and good luck in 2022!