Team Novo Nordisk hang tough on stage five in Rwanda

Peter Kusztor (HUN):

“Full gas again from the start today and we were straight onto the climbs with three coming over the first 30km and when you have attacks to get in the breakaway, attacks from the contenders and then team’s trying to cover moves. It’s just relentless and we felt it today. The bunch was split into six or seven groups before we hit the main climb of the day.”

“We were all together in a group with around 50 riders and we managed to stay within the group until the finish and thankfully the tempo in our group was not easy, but not at constantly on the limit. All the stages are hard here and we knew that coming in, but that doesn’t make it any easier once you’re out there.”

Sport director Gennady Mikhaylov (RUS):

“These climbs keep on coming thick and fast and no matter how much you recover overnight you still know what’s coming up the next day and so the challenge is not only physical. It’s mental too and our guys showed a lot of fight again today and a lot of mental strength.”

“The early part of the stage was the hardest today and the race split apart on the first ascents and for those riders who aren’t climbers it was always going to be another long day with the focus only about survival and finishing within the time limit. David, Lucas and Peter all managed to finish in the second peloton, but Umberto is feeling the Tour of Oman in his legs and had a real fight on his hands today, but he showed true grit and he made it.”