Rain Pounds the Peloton at Tour of Taihu Lake

11 October 2017

Race: Tour of Taihu Lake, stage 1

Start/Finish: Wuxi/Wuxi, China

Distance: 111 kilometers

WUXI, CHINA – Stage one of the 2017 Tour of Taihu Lake ended in a mass sprint on Wednesday following a multi-lap circuit race through Wuxi in steady but warm rain, a distinct change from Tuesday’s sunshine prologue.

All Team Novo Nordisk riders finished safely in the peloton in the same time as stage winner Nicolas Marini of Italy, and will race the mostly flat urban circuits around Taihu Lake all week in this 8-day stage race that makes up a part of the Asia Tour. The final day of racing on Tuesday, October 17 will finish on a hilly course around the nearby Zhenjiang Mao Mountain scenic area.

Charles Planet:

“A very flat stage, very fast. But a lot of rain, and the breakaway was small so we sat in with the pack for the expected mass sprint. Not too far today, we worked for Quentin in the sprint and we are working for a top 10 this week.”

Team Novo Nordisk Sport Director Pavel Cherkasov:

“111km today with two 30-km circuits in the middle. Rainy conditions. A lot of attacks. Two big crashes. Quentin got caught in the first one, but nothing serious. On the final 10km the team put a train for Quentin. It’s good racing here.”

Team Novo Nordisk races all week in China at the Tour of Taihu Lake, then moves across to Japan for a pair of one-day races before finishing the 2017 season at China’s Tour of Hainan.

Results: