Stevens happy to be back racing for Team Novo Nordisk in Greece

Team Novo Nordisk development rider Hayden Stevens marked a significant milestone on stage two of the Tour of Hellas, finishing 25th as the eighteen-year-old Australian continued his return to racing after a difficult period on the sidelines.

The 157.5km stage from Karpenisi to Larissa, with 1,601 metres of elevation gain,  provided a stern test for Stevens in his first race back following a heavy crash on stage two of the International Tour of Rhodes in March, in which he broke both his wrist and elbow. Today’s result was an encouraging sign that the young Australian is finding his feet again after weeks of patient recovery.

“The recovery after the crash in Rhodes was very tricky with my elbow and wrist broken,” said Stevens. “Even just trying to ride on the trainer was very difficult. For about the first four weeks I was limited to only about 90 minutes at low intensity. Then the last four weeks leading up to the Tour of Hellas it was all about trying to get as much back as possible — but I’ve been loving putting a number back on.”

Stevens showed promising form on the day’s climbing before the race came back together ahead of the bunch sprint finish. “Today was a very difficult day — climbing straight away. I felt very comfortable on the climb and the legs were feeling good. All of us were in a good position leading up to the finale and since I had good legs I gave it a crack. All together it was a great learning experience competing in a bunch sprint like this and I’m looking forward to using what I learnt.”

The team will now turn their attention to a demanding stage three tomorrow, a mammoth 207.3km ride from Volos to Lamia with a substantial 4,216 metres of elevation gain  — by far the hardest day of the race so far and one that is likely to shake up the general classification significantly.