Beadle off to a flying start in Taiwan

Team Novo Nordisk’s first appearance at the Tour de Taiwan started well with Italian Filippo Ridolfo making the breakaway and taking the bonus seconds before Hamish Beadle sprinted to 11th in the hectic finale.

Head sports director Massimo Podenzana:

“I’m pleased with how the guys started today, it was a short and fast stage and it was important to be switched on early. Filippo did as planned and for the second race in a row made the breakaway and did a  good job of racing from the front to take some bonus seconds.”

“That puts him in 5th on the early GC and we wanted to start with a high footing on both the stage and the overall. Hamish is well suited to this type of explosive, short stage and he fought well against the bigger guys in the final.”

Hamish Beadle:

“Slightly disappointed to be fair, because we came so close to the top ten and it’s always a little bit frustrating when you’re that close but it was a good start overall. I would have liked it to be a little lumpier, it was pretty flat and the pure sprinters always have the advantage on that type of finish.”

“It’s going to take us another day or so to acclimatize, the conditions are very different to Europe at the moment and I’m looking forward to see how we do on the climbs coming up over the next stages.”