Sprinter
HEIGHT 178cm/5’8”
DOB 28-10-1988
AGE OF DIAGNOSIS 16
YEARS WITH TEAM 14
“To be still racing, inspiring and driving change in diabetes at 37 is an amazing privilege for me, I still feel strong, ready to race and above all ready to show once more what is possible.”
PROFILE
No rider has carried the Team Novo Nordisk jersey in front of more of the world than Andrea Peron. Three times the Italian sprinter has ridden in the main breakaway at Milano-Sanremo, staying away for most of the 298 kilometres of a monument watched worldwide.
Peron was drawn to sport very early. Motor racing came first, but at ten his parents judged it too risky and he switched to cycling. He was competing almost immediately and winning inside his first year, and as the wins continued across Italy he began to understand he might have the talent to make a career of it.
At 16 he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and thought the career was finished before it started. His doctor told him otherwise, encouraging him to keep training and to use the bike as a way of managing the condition. He spent four successful seasons with Cyber Team-VC Breganze, was introduced to Team Novo Nordisk sport director Massimo Podenzana, and joined the team the following season.
He announced himself in the team’s first season with 14 top ten finishes, including podiums at the Tour de Beauce in Canada and the Tour of China. Known for his power and his fearlessness in a sprint, he built a career on turning up: a podium on Stage 5 of the Tour de Korea in 2015, two top fives at the Volta Ciclística Internacional do Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil in 2016, fifth on Stage 1 of the Tour of Estonia in 2018, and nine top tens across the 2019 season.
2021 opened with the ride that defines him. He instigated and then animated the breakaway at Milano-Sanremo, and went on to be the team’s most consistent rider that year, stacking top 20 finishes before finally breaking into the top ten on the last stage of the last race of the season, eighth in the sprint in downtown Zagreb at CRO Race.
2022 was his tenth year with the team and his best as a professional: a first career victory at GP Kranj in Slovenia and six top ten finishes. 2023 looked much like the seasons before it, packed with results: two podiums and the points jersey at the Tour de La Mirabelle, followed by top tens at GP Kranj, the Tour of Denmark and the Tour of Turkey. Another strong 2025 added more top fives and top tens, and he returns in 2026 with the same appetite for racing that has kept him at this level for 14 seasons.
Off the bike, Peron relaxes at home with his family. He and his wife are the proud parents of two sons.