TNN looks back on a successful Tour of Turkey

The Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey brought an end to the season for the world’s first all-diabetes cycling team earlier today. The race ended in Istanbul with a 130.5 kilometer stage. Team Novo Nordisk leaves the race with multiple top tens thanks to Andrea Peron and Matyas Kopecky.

The day marked a special occasion as Joonas Henttala celebrated his last race as a professional cyclist, bringing down the curtain on an 11-year career with the team, racing to inspire those affected by diabetes.

General Manager, Vassili Davidenko:

“Today brings an end to our season with a very successful week. We took each stage as it came and managed to get three top tens. We set some team goals at the beginning of the season and finishing the season this strong here and in Japan shows how focussed everyone has been. Now it’s time for some rest, a reset and start preparing for next year.

“It was Joonas’s last race with us after 11 years. He was naturally emotional on the finish line. He’s spent years with us inspiring the diabetes community from all over the world and this is an end of an era. We wish him well as he enters the next chapter of his life.”

Matyas Kopecky:

“Today was a short stage and pretty fast all day. We stayed in the front together which was good. It was always going to come down to a sprint but it was chaotic on the circuit. Andrea was really strong but he crashed on one of the last corners. It wasn’t serious but his chance of a result was gone. It has been a good week of racing in Turkey and really good for me to gain experience over such a long race. This is something I am looking forward to taking into next year after a short break now.”