Lozano Shows Form at GP Stad Zottegem

23 August 2016

Race: GP Stad Zottegem

Start/Finish: Zottegem/Zottegem, Belgium

Distance: 190.1 kilometers

Zottegem, Belgium — Team Novo Nordisk’s David Lozano showed his late season form when he finished as part of an elite front group on Tuesday’s GP Stad Zottegem.

“Today’s course wasn’t one that I really fit my strengths,” Lozano said. “I feel like I raced smart throughout the day.”

The 190.1-kilometer course saw nearly half the peloton withdraw due to the challenging course and abnormally high temperatures for Belgium. From the start, attacks were flying, including one from Team Novo Nordisk’s staigiare Quentin Valognes, but the race was still together after an hour. The high pace combined with nonstop attacks caused numerous riders to fall off the pace after the first laps. With 55 km remaining, there were approximately a dozen riders off the front, but as was the theme for the day, they too were reeled back. When the race hit the final lap around Zottegem, the cobbled Paddestraat reduced the peloton down to less than three dozen riders. In the end, it came down to a bunch sprint from this group with Tim Merlier (Crelan-Vastgoedservice) taking the win.

“I launched an attack on the first lap, but everything came back together when we reached the Paddestraat. After that, there were so many attacks, but none of them stuck,” Lozano said. “So I waited until the final lap and then tried to cover the most dangerous moves. I knew one of them may stick, but to be honest, I think all of us were too empty to do anything that big. I’m glad I could race well and hopefully will carry this into the Tour des Fjords next week.”

Team Novo Nordisk, the world’s first all-diabetes pro cycling team, returns to racing on August 31^st with the five-day Tour des Fjords in Norway.