Team Novo Nordisk Wrap 2016 Season at Tour of Taihu Lake

12 November 2016

Race: Tour of Taihu Lake, A

Start/Finish: Jurong Chishanhu Lake / Maoshan, China

Distance: 130.6 kilometers

Maoshan, China — Team Novo Nordisk concluded its 2016 racing season at Saturday’s final stage of Tour of Taihu with Dutch rider Gerd de Keijzer featuring in the day’s breakaway.

Soon after the start, eight riders, including de Keijzer, pulled away to form the breakaway and managed to stay away until the group hit the climbs on the last 40km. On the final climb, 15km from the finish line, four riders attacked and built a 20-second advantage on the group.

“Today’s final stage was very hard,” said Team Novo Nordisk Sport Director Massimo Podenzana, “and unfortunately our guys were not able to arrive with the first group. But they also raced well today, and in general, all the guys worked very well. Most notably, de Keijzer showed significant improvements and Valognes, our stagiaire, showed the determination and the ability to to compete at this level.”

Leonardo Duque (Delko Marseille Provence KTM) won the stage and the overall general classification, and Valognes finished best for Team Novo Nordisk on the stage at 46th.