Team Novo Nordisk Looking East to Estonia
25 May 2021
The world’s first all diabetes professional cycling team returns to the Tour of Estonia at the end of the month, with Isle of Man native Sam Brand looking forward to returning to the scene of one of his breakthrough races.
Back in 2019, Brand put in a strong ride in the prologue and the day after on stage one, went on the attack from the breakaway taking points to climb into the mountain’s jersey. Proudly wearing in stage two, the Briton went deep, but narrowly missed out on bringing the jersey home, coming second in the final classification.
“I have good memories from the Tour of Estonia,” said Brand. “That is one of my best performances since I became a professional, everything almost came together, and we were really close to winning the mountains jersey. I’m looking forward to racing there again and it would be great to deliver the same level of performance.”
Joining Brand will be Italian sprinter Andrea Peron who’s searching for that elusive top ten finish after coming close at nearly every race he’s lined up at in 2021 and compatriot Umberto Poli with Dutchman Brian Kamstra returning to the fold after putting in some hard work training in Italy and fine tuning his position.
Australians Declan Irvine and Sam Munday complete the team alongside the calm presence of Irishman Stephen Clancy.
“It’s only two days of racing, but it won’t be easy,” said Sports director Gennady Mikhaylov. “At this stage of the season many riders are flying and keen to take every opportunity on offer. We need to be smart, follow our race plan and work together to achieve our objectives.”
“We have a good team with speed and balance, but these stages in Estonia will be fast from the flag drop and if we can support Andrea in numbers going into the finals, then I think we can get the top ten result that we’re aiming for.”
The two-day race covers 355 kilometers and starts in the historic capital Tallinn on the Baltic Sea with a road stage that heads southeast to the prestigious university town of Tartu for a downtown Grand Prix finale comprised of 16 circuits.
Team Novo Nordisk at the Tour of Estonia, May 28th – 29th:
Sam Brand (GBR, 30)
Stephen Clancy (IRL, 28)
Brian Kamstra (NED, 27)
Declan Irvine (AUS, 22)
Sam Munday (AUS, 22)
Andrea Peron (IT, 32)
Umberto Poli (IT, 24)
Stages:
Friday May 28th, Stage 1: Tallin – Tartu, 193km
Saturday May 29th, Stage 2: Tartu – Tartu, 162km