Season ends in style at wet edition of Japan Cup

A long 2023 season came to a close for half of Team Novo Nordisk at an epic and wet edition of the Japan Cup with Spanish climber David Lozano and kiwi Hamish Beadle the standout performers on an incredibly tough day out.

Sports Director Gennady Mikhaylov:

“We know from previous years how hard it is to just to finish the Japan Cup, so to have both David and Hamish ride so well and finish well in the bunch in these conditions was fantastic.”

“All our guys are heroes for what they overcome in every race, but today was a special performance. It didn’t stop raining all day and on this circuit with the highly technical descent it made the whole bunch more nervous. Nevertheless we showed great motivation for the last race of the season and I’m happy that these guys can go into the off season on a high note.”

David Lozano:

“That was brutal today. Brutally tough and very wet. Chapeau to Hamish, he was really strong today and we helped each other out to make sure we held our positions in the group, but everyone knew that the front of the race wasn’t going to come back together again, so our objective was to make sure we finished as high as possible.”

Hamish Beadle:

“Like David said, that was brutal today and there’s no way of dressing it up. The course is a tough one, but in the rain it’s even harder and we did very well to finish where we did.”

“Just outside the top 25 is pretty good and after fourth place in yesterday’s criterium I think we’ve had a good weekend here in Japan and rounded off the season nicely. Personally I feel I’ve ended strongly here and  found some good late season form with some good results in Hainan too. Let’s head into the offy with a smile on our faces.”