Planet takes strong 4th at Tour of Estonia Prologue

23 May 2019

Race: Tour of Estonia, Prologue

Start/Finish: Tallinn/Tallinn, Estonia

Distance: 3.7 kilometers

Tallinn, Estonia – Team Novo Nordisk got off to a strong start at the 2019 edition of Tour of Estonia with Charles Planet securing the 4th place in the 3.7 km opening prologue in the capital Tallinn.

Hot off the heels of an impressive performance last week in Tour of California Planet made the most of his good form and powered across the finishing line in three minutes and 37 seconds, less than a second shy of the podium.

The short but very technical parcours suited the 25-year-old Frenchman who, for a long time, held the best provisional time. Eventually Planet was dethroned in the hot seat by three other riders, including Matthias Brändle (Israel Cycling Academy) who confirmed his status as prologue favourite and won emphatically with almost 10 seconds advantage to the second placed rider.

The world’s first all-diabetes pro cycling team put in a solid collective effort with Italian Andrea Peron and Dutchman Brian Kamstra, finishing 11th and 12th place, respectively.

Team Novo Nordisk continues to fight for glory on Estonian soil this Thursday on Stage 1 that will link the capital Tallinn and Tartu over 187km. Charles Planet will start in the 4th position in the overall classification.

Charles Planet:

“I’m really happy to take 4th place in the Prologue after such a really short time to recover from (Tour of) California plus the 10-hour time difference. It was a really nice course with a straight first part with a lot of headwind and then a short uphill which I rode fully out of the saddle and a pretty technical final. I gave my maximum and got 4th place. The riders who finished in front of me were just stronger today. I’m happy and already looking forward to the next stage to give more and maybe to get a win.”