Tour de Taiwan

A short and rainy opening stage at the Tour de Taiwan saw Team Novo Nordisk off to a flying start with two riders inside the top 20. 

Italian all rounder Alessandro Perracchione led the way in 14th with neo pro Bailey McDonald close behind in 17th, both riders just off the back of the sprinting pack. 

“I tried to get into the early breakaway, but didn’t make it which turned out to be a blessing because it was brought back anyway,” said Perracchione. “We sat in and worked well together as a team and once the break was reeled in the sprint was inevitable.”

“It’s always easier to see where you went wrong after the event, but I could have been better positioned on the final corner and that’s why we missed out on the top ten. But all in all I think it’s a good start from us, Bailey was with me right until the end and Antonio was close behind.”

Photo credit: Sprint Cycling Agency

The second day of racing at the Tour de Taiwan saw the race move out into the countryside and on to the picturesque climbs with Alessandro Perracchione once again inside the top 15 for Team Novo Nordisk.

Australian neo pro Bailey McDonald was the early protagonist for the worlds first all diabetes professional cycling team with the 21 year old part of the breakaway for around 90km of racing, before the move came back ahead of the lumpy final.

“It’s a great experience racing at this level and competing,” began McDonald. “I’m feeling good physically and getting up the road in the breakaway today was great, for my confidence and also to be able to do a job for the team. We’re in a good place with Ale breaking into the top ten on GC today too.”

“This all a steep learning curve, not only the jump to pro level, but also managing my diabetes. My glucose levels have been up and down the last two days over here and it’s great to have the experience and support of the team to help with that. Travel, acclimatizing and pre race nutrition and preparation are all important factors that I’m getting used to.”

McDonald’s exploits in the breakaway took some pressure off his teammates in the bunch with Perracchione able to sit on until the uphill finale. The 20 year old Italian finished 14th for the second day in succession and is now ninth overall with three days of racing to come. 

A tough third day of racing unfolded over the inland climbs at the Tour de Taiwan with Team Novo Nordisk working together to try and keep Alessandro Perracchione as high as possible on the overall classification.

Briton Nathan Smith and Italian climber Antonio Polga were with Perracchione in the second group on the road as they tried valiantly to stay in contact with the leaders over the final climbs.

“Today was a hard stage,” said Perracchione. “We tried our best to stay with the front group when the splits came and both Antonio and Nathan did a great job for me but I got dropped from the lead group In the last km of the climb.”

“It’s disappointing to slip down the general classification after being in the top ten, but we’ll try and reset for tomorrow and try our best for the breakaway.”

After finishing 21st on the stage Perracchione is now 22nd overall with two days of racing to come.

After a difficult third day of racing on Tuesday, stage four of the Tour de Taiwan unfolded much better for Team Novo Nordisk and young Italian rouleur Alessandro Perracchione.

The 20-year-old Piedmontese channeled his frustration well on the 147km stage and, after strong teamwork from his teammates, found himself in a great position to contest the finale outside the Kaohsiung National Stadium, sprinting to 12th place.

“Today went much better than stage three,” said Perracchione. “I managed to get into a break after the first intermediate sprint, and I could tell immediately that my legs felt good. We knew we needed to stay as close to the front as possible since there was a strong chance of a bunch sprint finale, and the whole team worked really well together.”

“It will be hard to climb back up in the overall classification, but we will try again tomorrow. We’ve regained some confidence after today’s better performance, and we’ll take that into tomorrow’s final stage.”

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

Team Novo Nordisk took the old adage quite literally over the course of the five day Tour de Taiwan and after near misses on three out of the previous four stages, 20 year old Alessandro Perracchione sprinted into ninth place on the final day of racing.

“I’m really happy that we finally made it and achieved our goal,” said Perracchione. “We have been coming so close every day apart from stage 3 when I didn’t have the greatest day on the climbs, but we didn’t give up and each day the team has worked together really well.”

“We tried to go for the breakaway again today, but didn’t quite make it and reset the objective for the final and the guys positioned me perfectly. I was never going to win the stage against some of these pure sprinters, but I knew from the last few days that I had enough to kick to get into the ten and it’s a nice feeling to end the race with.”