Team Novo Nordisk Kicks Off Tour of China II With Solid Prologue

Race: Tour of China II, Prologue

Start/Finish: Jianhua/Jianghua

Distance: 5.2 kilometers

Jianhua, China — Team Novo Nordisk kicked off Tour of China II with a solid 5.2 km prologue around Jianghua Centian River with Irishman Stephen Clancy finishing in 22nd position as the best placed #changingdiabetes rider on the day.

The, mostly flat, individual effort was won by Artem Ovechkin who stopped the clock in six minutes and 12 seconds with an average speed of 50.31 km/h.

Team Novo Nordisk who concluded Tour of China I this Saturday, did very well to post two times just outside the top 20 with Clancy being the 22nd fastest on the course, just 15 seconds shy of the winner and his teammate Declan Irving crossing the line in 23rd.

This Tuesday the world’s first all-diabetes pro cycling team will take on the second stage of Tour of China II in Anshun, totalling 127.8 km and a cat-4 climb.

Stephen Clancy:

“It was a full out, full gas prologue with a couple of corners but no breaks required. In terms of results myself and Declan (Irvine) came in just outside the top 20 so we are pretty pleased, it was a good effort. All the guys gave their best and emptied the tank. We live to fight another day.”

Gallery:

Stage 1 Classification:

1st – Artem Ovechkin (Terengganu Cycling Team) – 00:06:12

2nd – Alistair Christie-Johnston  (Team BridgeLane) 0:00:06

3rd – Sindre Bjerkestrand Haugsvær (Memil – CCN Pro Cycling) – 0:00:07

22nd – Stephen Clancy – 0:00:15

(Photos: ©Anne Wu)