Team Novo Nordisk’s Martijn Verschoor scored another top 10 finish on Saturday’s final stage of the Dubai Tour.
Stage 4 saw a five-man break escape and build a gap of nearly three and a half minutes. Yet with the overall race still on the line, the chasing peloton reeled them in during the final 10 kilometers. Several teams fought for position for the bunch finish, but it was Mark Cavendish (Etixx-Quick Step) that scored the stage win and the overall race title.
“It was a chaotic finish. I went into the last corner in 20 to 25th place,” Verschoor describes. “I grabbed onto Degenkolb’s [race leader at the start of Stage 4 John Degenkolb] wheel and he went full gas until 500 meters when he had to break because he got cut off. Only then could we start sprinting again. If that hadn’t happened, it could have been even better.”
This was Team Novo Nordisk’s first appearance at the Dubai Tour, and it showed Verschoor and the rest of the squad are starting 2015 in solid form. The Dutchman sprinted to 10th on the opening stage and featured in a five-man breakaway in Friday’s queen stage. Team Novo Nordisk also placed Frenchman Nicolas Lefrançois in the break on Stage 1.
“I would say that we had a really great week,” Team Novo Nordisk General Manager Vassili Davidenko said. “The team showed great performance. The boys were really active and aggressive covering breakaways and making it into a couple breaks. I can tell we are going to get even more results soon.”
Team Novo Nordisk, the world’s first all-diabetes pro cycling team, resumes racing on February 14th at the Vuelta Ciclista Murcia in Spain. The one-day race is 198.1-km in length. It begins in Mazarron and features two intermediate sprints and two categorized climbs before finishing on the summit of the Fortaleza del Sol in Lorca.
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