Tour of Taihu Lake

The opening stage of the Tour of Taihu Lake came down to a fast bunch sprint. With the stage consisting of three short laps and a 5 kilometer straight flat, it was always going to be a fast strong finish.

Even though it was part of the plan, Team Novo Nordisk was unable to contest the sprint upfront as Hamish Beadle explains.

“The team plan was to look for the break, and ultimately sprint for me. The stage was pretty fast with a lot of breaks that went but none were successful,” Beadle explained.

“The ⁠⁠final was super sketchy, with everyone being so fresh, everyone wanted to sprint. We tried to stay calm and stay out of the mess, but it was eventual that we would end up in it. I lost Umberto’s wheel and ended up trying to move through the bunch but I was too far back for the final few hundred metres to go anywhere. So not the best, but we have a few more days to get it right,” Beadle continued.

“Tomorrow and the next days will be similar, fast flat courses with short circuits or point to point. Ranging from 80km to 115km.”

With a total distance of only 76 kilometers, stage 2 from Nantong – Qidong is expected to be another fast one.

As expected, at only 75 kilometers long, stage 2 of the Tour of Taihu Lake was a fast and furious one. After numerous breakaway attempts, the day ended up in a bunch sprint with the team’s best finisher Quinten de Graeve in 29th, describing the last 20 kilometers as “nervous” in the peloton.

Quinten de Graeve: “The plan was to go for a good result with Hamish in the final sprint. He was with less than 2km to go in a really good position, unfortunately, his chain dropped. So I tried to do the sprint but I started from too far back. I could feel all the energy I spent in the first 25km trying to get into the breakaway, and I felt that hindered me from getting a good result in the sprint.”

“Tomorrow is also a short stage with less than 3 hours of racing time so it will be again a fast race and normally we try with Hamish again to have a top result, today was just bad luck and we believe he can do a really good result in the next days.”

Stage 3 will be another circuit parcours from Wujiang – Wujiang over 116 kilometers.

Stage 3 of the Tour of Taihu Lake was another incredibly fast day. At 116 kilometers, the peloton completed the distance in 2 hours 16 minutes, at a staggering average of 51km/h.

The speed meant no real breakaway succeeded for the day. Team Novo Nordisk looked to get into any possible moves but when that didn’t pan out, the focus turned to the fast finish with Hamish Beadle as the protected rider again.

Hamish Beadle:

“Today was a tough one again. These finishes are really fast with nothing too technical, and also short stages which means everyone is able to hang on. So it really makes the sprints difficult and dangerous.”

“The boys tried for the break, but nothing went all day as the peloton kept the speed high. The sprint was pretty fast and messy, I did my best but these finishes are proving to be a bit too pure of a sprint for me. I tried to move up and get as close as I could but the last 1km was pretty crazy. So we are looking for more opportunities in the coming days.”

Stage 4 is the penultimate day of the race and the longest one, from Changxing to Huzhou over 117 km.

Like all the other stages, the fourth stage of the Tour of Taihu Lake finished in a bunch gallop. The peloton was once again not content to let a breakaway up the road, as the fast and flat nature of the course is favorable to would-be escapees.

Team Novo Nordisk planned to be part of any possible moves with another eye on protecting Hamish Beadle for a sprint. The New Zealander was the first finisher for the world’s first all-diabetes cycling team in 36^th.

Hamish Beadle:

Today we changed our plan a little and tried our chances for the break. After nearly two hours the break still hadn’t gone, as the lead teams didn’t want anything to go. So we tried for the sprint again, with the boys keeping it calm with 10km to go. Quinten was the last man and he went a bit too early for me, so I was stuck at the front and ended up getting swamped. Tomorrow is the last day, and I think we can do pretty well on this course with the guys.

Team Novo Nordisk wrapped up the five stage Tour of Taihu Lake earlier today. 11 riders made it to the finish with a slender advantage over the peloton and contested the win amongst themselves.

Hamish Beadle was the first rider home for the world’s first all diabetes cycling team, just missing out on a top 20 position in 24th. The stage was from Nanjing to Jiangning over 114 km on a circuit, making for another fast day.

Hamish Beadle:

Yeah, it’s been a bit of a frustrating week for us, but we have learned a bit and it’s been good to build a bit of form before our final race in Japan. The sensations today for a lot of us were good, and the numbers reflect this. So we will rest a little and then full gas for Japan.

The team will now turn its attention to the final race of the season, the Japan Cup Road Race on 20 October.