Kopecky sprints to sixth place in Tour of Antalya opener

Team Novo Nordisk continued its fine start to the 2024 on the opening stage of Tour of Antalya today. Matyas Kopecky picked up where he left off in Volta a la Communitat Valenciana last week to pick up his second top 10 of the season.

Sports Director, Massimo Podenzana:

“We have a mixture of youth and experience here at the race along with a couple of guys making their Pro Team debuts, so we’re focused on multiple goals. One of the main ones was to look after Matyas in the sprint today. Last week in Valenciana he showed he is coming into the season with some good form so we wanted to test it again today. For the debutants, it’s all about learning to ride as a team and working to towards these goals and today was very impressive. It’s a very good start for us and we’ll be looking to build on it over the next days.”

Matyas Kopecky:

“Today was pretty fast. It started raining early in the stage which made things a little sketchy and there were some crashes. Luckily the rain didn’t last and conditions dried up. Once the day’s breakaway was brought back, two more guys went away and the chase was on to bring them back which meant the final was a fast one.“

“I felt really good today and the guys did a great job to position me in the last 2 kilometers when it became clear there would be a sprint. I managed to make it through the chaos and sprint to sixth. The final kilometer wasn’t flawless and I had legs for more. But I’m looking forward to the rest of the stages after the sensations of today.”