On Saturday, Team Novo Nordisk tackled the 10thedition of the Sparkassen Münsterland Giro. The one-day race began in Ibberbüren and saw five riders escape early with two more riders eventually bridging up. The escapees built a gap of more than five minutes as they reached the 60-kilometer mark in the 179.9-km race. As the race reached the three finishing laps around Muenster, the break was reduced to only four riders. With 12 km remaining, all of the breakaway riders were reeled in.

Another attack quickly followed that included three-time World Time Trial Champion Tony Martin (Etixx-Quick Step). Team Novo Nordisk’s Martijn Verschoor saw its potential and quickly bridged up. Verschoor then attacked the breakaway and was off the front of the peloton solo for nearly a kilometer. Eventually, he and the rest of the breakaway were caught with 1.5 km to go. Soon a crash split the field, and the race came down to a reduced bunch sprint with Tom Boonen (Etixx-Quick Step) taking the win. Charles Planet finished as Team Novo Nordisk’s best-placed rider in 22nd position.

“I felt really good today. I feel good about the move I made at the end of the race,” Verschoor said. “At the time, it felt like the right thing to do and I was happy that my legs and body were able to respond and race so aggressively. In the end, it didn’t work out but I still feel proud about my race today.”

Tom Boonen (Etixx-Quick Step) sprinted to the win ahead of Roy Jans (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Nikias Arndt (Team Giant-Alpecin).

Team Novo Nordisk, the world’s first all-diabetes pro cycling team, returns to racing on Monday with Stage 3 of the Tour of China I, a 125.6-km circuit race around Huangshi.