Surviving the Turbulent Criterium at Tour de Beauce

The criterium stage of the Tour de Beauce was a high-paced and challenging race from the outset. The Team Novo Nordisk Development Teams‘s strategy was to stay hidden and conserve energy for the bunch sprint, given the course’s demanding nature with its 1km uphill grind and subsequent 1km descent, repeated over 35 laps.

Development Team General Manager Daniel Holt:

“I told the guys to try to hide as much as possible and wait for the sprint. It was a tough course, though, with a 1 km grinding hill and 1 km down. They needed to make it halfway without being lapped to get a prorated time and start the last stage the next day.”

“The race was very fast from the beginning. The leader’s team wasn’t that strong, so the other teams were attacking a lot, trying to break them. Also, there were several crashes in the opening laps of the race, making it tough at the back. Josh (Brown) and Hjalte (Knudsen) both went down, but luckily they are okay.”

Photo credits: @lastlap