Back to Belgium for double header weekend of racing for Team Novo Nordisk
08 June 2023
Team Novo Nordisk head back to Belgium this week for an action-packed weekend of racing that starts on Saturday at Dwars door het Hageland and continues Sunday with Elfstedenronde Brugge.
The last appearance in Belgium for the world’s first all diabetes professional cycling team yielded the team’s best result in a northern classic with Czech starlet Matyas Kopecky in 12th place at Scheldeprijs and with Italian sprinter Andrea Peron now back and firing, the signs are good.
“This is an important block of racing coming up for us in Belgium,” said General Manager Vassili Davidenko. “We start this weekend at Hageland and Elfstedenronde and then go straight into the Tour of Belgium with the aim of picking up where we left off in Scheldeprijs in the spring.”
“We’re sending a strong team and with Andrea finding some form now and Matyas back in the mix I’m confident we can come away with positive results. The team is working well together and at the halfway point of the season we’ve already produced some strong performances in tough races like these, so let’s keep it going now and achieve our goals.”
A strong and versatile team lines up in support of Peron and Kopecky with veteran Peter Kusztor and 21-year-old Italian Filippo Ridolfo both set to play key roles alongside antipodean duo Hamish Beadle and Declan Irvine and Veronese Umberto Poli completing the team.
“I’m looking forward to being back racing in Belgium,” said Peron. “Hageland and Elfstedenronde back to back will lead us nicely into the Baloise Tour next week and to go into these tough races with options is great.”
“I’m feeling good and I like these hard races on the cobbles. I’m happy when you need to be switched on in the bunch and feeling alive to how different scenarios might play out, rather than sitting on because you know it’s going to come down to a sprint. Anything can happen here and we will need to be at the top of our game.”
First up is the 20th edition of Dwars door het Hageland and covers 177km and is peppered with tough cobbled ramps, warming the legs up nicely for Sunday’s Elfstedenronde and another 190.3km around Bruges.
Team Novo Nordisk at Dwars door het Hageland & Elfstedenronde Brugge, 10th – 11th June:
Hamish Beadle (NZL, 25)
Declan Irvine (AUS, 24)
Matyas Kopecky (CZ,20)
Petet Kusztor (HUN, 38)
Andrea Peron (IT, 34)
Umberto Poli (IT, 26)
Filippo Ridolfo (IT, 21)
Photo credit: Sprint Cycling Agency