Return to Taiwan for Team Novo Nordisk
09 March 2023
The world’s first all diabetes professional cycling team are set to make a welcome return to the Tour de Taiwan for the first time since 2017, the five-day stage race will cover the island in the South China sea from Taipei to Kaohsiung City.
Tour du Rwanda stage winner David Lozano will lead the team with second year professional Filippo Ridolfo coming in hot from the breakaway at the recent Trofeo Laigueglia and Kiwi Hamish Beadle looking forward to racing in Asia again after a cold and wet start to the season in Europe.
“It’s been a few years since we raced at the Tour de Taiwan and we’re very excited to be back,” said General Manager Vassili Davidenko. “The support we receive in Taiwan is always fantastic and the activation with local diabetes associations working together with our sponsor Novo Nordisk is always memorable. Combining that with the excellent racing on offer, we are very much looking forward to being back in Taiwan.”
Five days of racing across the island will see Team Novo Nordisk cover close to 700km with Brit Sam Brand and Italian Umberto Poli completing the lineup.
“This will be my first time racing in Taiwan,” said Lozano. “I am really looking forward to it, some of the guys have been speaking about what a nice race it is, and it’s always cool to race somewhere new and show what we can do.”
“We had a good start to our racing calendar at the Tour du Rwanda and then a tough one at Trofeo Laigueglia last week in hard conditions, so we’ve got some racing in our legs and another stage race will be good for us.
“Our goal is always to do the best we can. But it’s also important that we do as much as we can to show ourselves whenever possible and take advantage of the great platform we have to keep driving change in diabetes and show the world that nothing holds us back.”
Team Novo Nordisk at Tour de Taiwan, 12th – 16th March:
Hamish Beadle (NZ, 24)
Sam Brand (GBR, 32)
David Lozano (ESP, 34)
Umberto Poli (IT, 26)
Filippo Ridolfo (IT,21)
Stages:
Sunday 12th March, Stage 1: Taipei – Taipei, 88.5km
Monday 13th March, Stage 2: Taoyuan – Taoyuan, 120.59km
Tuesday 14th March, Stage 3: Hsinchu – Taichung, 154.5km
Wednesday 15th March, Stage 4: Nantou – Nantou, 165.57km
Thursday 16th March, Stage 5: Kaohsiung City – Kaohsiung City, 146.44km