Verschoor Snags Top 10 at Tour de Beauce Opener

15 June 2016

Race: Tour de Beauce, Stage 1

Start/Finish: Saint-Georges / Saint-Georges, Canada

Distance: 185 kilometers

Saint-Georges, Canada — Team Novo Nordisk’s Martijn Verschoor earned his fourth top 10 of the season when he sprinted to 10^th place on Stage 1 of the Tour de Beauce.

Wednesday’s stage featured strong winds throughout the 185-kilometer stage. Three riders attacked early and were soon joined by four additional riders. The seven-man group quickly gained a gap of seven minutes. With five kilometers remaining, the gap was down to a minute and a half. Heading up the final hill to the finish, the race came back together with Mihkel Räim (Cycling Academy Team) taking the win. The final climb caused gaps throughout the peloton and Verschoor finished 10^th, 1:16 behind Räim.

“Following a lot of racing this past month and a half, my legs weren’t as good as I would have liked,” Verschoor said. “Joonas (Henttala) stayed with me in the front group heading into the really hard finish, but we weren’t able to catch the five guys up front. Hopefully Joonas will have good legs tomorrow for the mountain stage. We will be all racing for him.”

Team Novo Nordisk continues racing on Thursday with Stage 2 of the Tour de Beauce. The 170-km stage begins in Lac-Mégantic before climbing up to the summit of Mount Mégantic.

Results: