Peter Kusztor

Páty, Hungary

Stage races, Climber

HEIGHT 179cm/5'8"

DOB 27-12-1984

AGE OF DIAGNOSIS 33

YEARS WITH TEAM 5

I’m getting older, this will be my 30th season racing a bike since I was junior but I’m still fresh and motivated, I’m ready to help but also to race for amazing results!

PROFILE

Experienced Hungarian climber Peter Kusztor returns for 2023 after another solid season for Team Novo Nordisk in 2022 with the veteran former national road champion producing impressive displays as a late blooming lead-out man at important moments throughout the year.

Kusztor racked up over 6,000 kilometers of racing in 2021 despite injury trouble and an unfortunate crash in France at the Tour du Jura, the elder statesman of the team is set to continue shepherding the team’s young riders towards their major objectives on the road in 2023.

After a positive first two seasons with Team Novo Nordisk in 2019 and 2020 including a pair of back to back top 10 stage finishes at the International Tour of Rhodes (Greece) and 10th overall before a solid performance at his home race, the Tour of hungary after the season restart.

Standout results from 2019 include a top 20 finish on the final stage of the Amgen Tour of California, a debut appearance in the iconic Italian monument Milano-Sanremo, and 25th overall at the Tour of Estonia.

The 37-year-old Olympian turned professional in 2005 with P-nivoBetonexpressz 2000 and raced 14 seasons with UCI Continental squads including Atlas Personal, Utensilnord, Amplatz-BMC, and MyBikeStevens.

Kusztor was racing for MyBike Stevens when he crashed on Stage 3 of the Czech Cycling Tour and broke his collarbone (August 2018). Before going in for surgery, doctors checked his fasting blood glucose levels, which were elevated. Initially, doctors believed he had type 2 diabetes and hospitalized him to bring down his blood glucose. He did not respond to medication, and eventually endocrinologists ran a series of new tests that led to his type 1 diagnosis.

The diagnosis and lifestyle changes were difficult for Kusztor, and he couldn’t imagine continuing racing professionally while managing the condition. Yet the Hungarian had raced against Team Novo Nordisk over the years and knew that all riders on the team competed with type 1 diabetes.

Not wanting to give up his career and dream, Kusztor reached out to Team Novo Nordisk to receive information on nutrition and training advice for someone newly diagnosed with diabetes. After several conversations, the team offered him a spot on the 2019 squad.

Throughout Kusztor’s career, accolades include representing Hungary at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, two-time Hungary national road race champion (2010, 2012), Hungary national time trial champion (2010), winner overall at the Tour of Bretagne (2011), second overall at Gemenc GP (2017) and lined up for five UCI Road World Championships (2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2019).

Off the bike, Kusztor is married and has two daughters and a son. His family lives outside of Budapest in Páty where he and his wife also run an amateur cycling team