PostNord Danmark Rundt – Tour of Denmark

2022 GP Kranj winner Andrea Peron made a great start to this year’s Tour of Denmark by sprinting into seventh place for Team Novo Nordisk after a long, hectic crash field opening stage.

Andrea Peron (ITA)
“It started pretty much as we expected. The breakaway went in the early kilometres, then we thought ‘ok, now it’s going to settle down,’ but we were wrong. It became quite hectic and nervous in the bunch, fast pace and subsequently, some of the guys got caught up in the crashes. I went down myself and banged my knee up but thankfully I’m ok and I managed to recover as the stage progressed.”

“The break was still up front when we hit the finishing circles in Koge. We didn’t catch them until inside the last 10km, and believe it or not there was another crash in the closing kilometres where a guy nearly came over the top of me and I was lucky to stay upright.”

“The sprint was hectic with the final corner coming 1.2km from the line. I knew there I had to be in a good position because if not it was gonna leave without me. I’m thankful I was able to get a good look at the run in to the line on the last circuit. Although I still felt I was a little bit too far back. However, when we kicked I felt good, picked a good wheel and was able to move through and finish in the top 10. I am happy we made a solid start because as everybody knows this is an important race for us but I think I had the legs for a podium. So we’ll see on the next sprint opportunity. “

Sports Director, Gennady Mikhaylov
“Well! I’m actually surprised that we came through and managed to get that result today. Most of if not all the team were involved in crashes. And there were a lot of crashes. This happens in cycling and sometimes it happens more often than not. Luckily none of our guys were seriously injured but it meant that Andrea had to ride a lot of the stage on his own and fight for his place in the bunch.”

“Yeah, for sure there were a lot of other teams in the same situation because a lot of guys went down so we can’t complain. Andrea is being incredibly consistent this season and today’s performance shows that he recovered well after the Tour de Pologne. It was very important for us to start well today, I cannot stress that enough. So we will raise a glass to Andrea tonight and a solid top 10.”

Australian rouleur Declan Irvine produced a strong ride in today’s individual time trial at the Tour of Denmark with the Team Novo Nordisk riders happily coming back into form at the business end of the season.

Sports Director, Gennady Mikhaylov
“Coming through yesterday’s stage with so many of the guys crashing, the main goal today was for the guys to come through in good shape while putting in a good effort on the TT course. We don’t have an out and out TT specialist and today’s course was quite flat, slightly technical with a couple of sharp corners but definitely one for the more powerful guys.

However early on our guys showed a lot of promise with a couple of strong rides from Hamish (Beadle) and Matyas (Kopecky) and Filippo (Ridolfo). Then Declan came up and produced a very solid ride and posted the best time of all our boys today. We have a very long and difficult stage coming up tomorrow, it’s the Queen stage and for sure we need to be very switched on.”

Declan Irvine (AUS)
“I’m really happy with today. It has been a tough season for me and I kind of feel like the last time I was going well was in the Tour of Denmark a year ago. Funny enough that was also a TT in the rain in Copenhagen. I felt like I was flying that day, probably flying a little too much because I crashed in one of the corners.

It took a long time to recover and go back at a good level but finally I feel like I’m getting close to that and I’m happy to have produced a good ride today.”

Young Italian first-year professional Filippo Ridolfo, was alive to the early attacks on a gruelling third stage at the Tour of Denmark jumping into the breakaway after 3 kilometers of racing and only being caught 230km later.

Filippo Ridolfo (ITA)
“Wow! I feel completely dead now. It was great to get out front and finally make it into a good move where all the guys wanted to work well together. We went very early in the opening kilometres, I followed the first attack and fortunately, I was the second wheel. We were maybe five guys in the beginning and even then I had the feeling it was going to go a long way. Then the rest of the guys bridged across to make a group of twelve.”

“On a stage as long as today and with gravel sections, we said beforehand in the team meeting that it would be a really good opportunity to go for the breakaway. I found it hard after around 200km as the fatigue started to set in but I loved the feeling of adrenaline showing off our jersey on our sponsor’s home ground for the whole stage.”

Sports Director, Gennady Mikhaylov
“Filippo did a fantastic job today. We spoke a lot on the bus on the way to the stage about how important it was to get in the breakaway today. It was a spectacular stage, very long, filled with gravel sections and mixed weather.”

“We knew that the guys will find it hard today, we knew that they would suffer but we can come away feeling satisfied with our work because we showed what it meant today to be racing in this jersey.”

“Filippo was fortunate to be in a move that rotated very well. They all knew that they had a really good chance of making it to the line but they were caught within the last 5km and then it was time for Andrea to have a go in the sprint. He did well again, he’s got very good legs in this race and if it wasn’t for being slightly boxed in, he would have made another top 10. Well done guys, great job today.”

A fast fourth stage for Team Novo Nordisk around the fjords of northwest Jutland unfolded behind the early breakaway at the Tour of Denmark before a hectic bunch sprint brought the stage to a close by the marina in Skive.

Andrea Peron (ITA):

“This was the last chance for another go in the sprint, so I’m quite frustrated we didn’t manage to execute our plan. It was a hard day and I think everyone out there was tired from yesterday’s mammoth stage and that showed today.”

Sport Director Gennady Mikhaylov:

“We could have done much better communicating today and I think maybe the finale would have turned out differently. Andrea spent a lot of time on his own and that means he uses a lot of energy just to stay in the bunch.”

“We all suffered yesterday so the guys found it hard to recover today, but if someone is having problems and another guy is feeling good we need to tell each other and that’s the main lesson we take from this stage. Talk to your teammates and adapt on the road.”

Team Novo Nordisk achieved their best ever result at the Tour of Denmark this week with Italian sprinter Andrea Peron seventh on the opening stage before neo-pro Filippo Ridolfo led the breakaway for 200km on stage three and Spanish climber David Lozano wrapped things up with a 31st place finish on the final stage.

The whole team worked themselves into the ground throughout the week in arguably the hardest edition of the race with two stages over 200km and packed with gravel sections.

David Lozano (ESP):

“I wasn’t feeling great at the beginning of the week, but gradually I started to feel better and better and even though it’s been a very tough race I think I managed to ride myself into it.”

“We knew all about today’s stage and the climbs from previous years but it didn’t make it any easier. I’m happy that I could produce a better ride today and finally start to feel like myself again. Thanks to my teammates and all the staff for the support, we’ve made a big difference this week and done a lot of great work with our sponsors Novo Nordisk and Argon18.”

Sports Director, Gennady Mikhaylov:

“We came here with two goals. To get a top ten finish on a stage and get in the breakaway. We achieved those goals by the end of the third stage and from there everything else was a bonus.”

“So David’s performance on the last stage was the cherry on top for us. He hasn’t felt great over the last few days so seeing him come good in the end was very pleasing. I’m proud of the guys and what we’ve achieved here, now on to Bulgaria and the Maryland Classic in America.”