Development Team Gains Valuable Experience at Tour of Thailand
14 April 2017
Last week, the Team Novo Nordisk Development Team took on the UCI 2.1 stage race, Tour of Thailand, where the young squad was able to gain some hard-fought experience. Below, the Devo Team GM and two of the riders recap the experience.
Development Team General Manager Daniel Holt
The Tour of Thailand was the Devo team’s first big test of the year, and all of the riders fought hard to make it through the entire 6-day stage race under difficult conditions. They worked well together and communicated effectively, and on two different days the team was able to establish a strong lead-out train, only to be swamped by other teams with only a couple hundred meters to go.
This kind of head to head experience against professional teams will be invaluable to their development into being great riders.
I thought our team did so well that I rewarded them with a retreat to a local area elephant sanctuary. The elephants were definitely more clean than everyone else afterward!
Brais Dacal
Tour of Thailand is been an extraordinary experience for the Devo Team. It was the first time we took part on a UCI 2.1 race, but all of the 6 riders finished the 6-day race. We worked hard every day and everyone did their best while riding as a team.
I got a 26th place on stage 2 and a 28th on Stage 6. There wasn’t a stage that suited my features as a rider, but I’ve fought hard and learned a lot every day. They don’t look like spectacular results, but they’ve given me confidence for the rest of the season.
Learn more about the Team Novo Nordisk Development Team here.
Justin McQuerry
Tour of Thailand was an amazing experience for all the TNN Devo riders and staff that took part. We grew as a team both on and off the bike in a UCI 2.1 race, and we were able to gain tremendous amounts of expletive racing at such high level in the UCI Asia Tour. I am very excited for the next bout of racing with this fellas, we have the legs and dialed in the execution over the 6 days, and I’m sure the results aren’t far away at all!
