Joonas Henttala: “Cycling makes me a better diabetic”

100 years ago a team of Canadian scientists discovered insuline and since that life of diabetics changed. Novo Nordisk, the biggest company of the world in the treatment of diabetes is active to spread a positive message for diabetics with his cycling team: diabetics can have a normal life and also practise sport at highest levels.
So their cyclists are ambassadors of this message, but first they are professional athletes, like Joonas Hnettala, one of the strongest cyclist of Finland. Let’s go to know him better, from his youth till his expectations.

“Hi Joonas, tell us something about your cycling history and about team issues”
I was 9 years old when I started cycling competitively and in that time I also doing cross country skiing, running, ice hockey, football, just for fun with friends, but I grew up in a really active family and sport was always big part of our family life.
I think cycling had immediately a special part in my heart: since I started, I loved cycling, I love the feeling of freedom.
I started competition when I was 9 years old and in the middle of the season, when I just turned 10 it was diagnosed diabetes. My father is diabetics as weel, and he understood from typical symptoms as I was drinking a lot and go to bathroom very often, so I went to hospital, got diagnosed but I could do a normal life, a lot of sport successfully and I improved a lot when I was junior and I understood I can do everything, just something to take care and the help of my father was so important because he knew what to to and everything was easier.
Many years after I signed with Novo Nordisk team and diabetes becomes a more important aspect of my life and everybody knows our condition and that’s important: when I was young I tried to hide my condition, when I was 13 years old in France I used to hide my medication in toilet, I was embarrassed. But now many people knows my condition and the situation is different, our mission is to inspire and empower people affected by diabetes all around the world and inside the team with other guys we don’t talk a lot about diabetes but of course we support each others and this argument is not so important, it’s our common situation but we are athletes, and we are focused on cycling

“How do you combine cycling and diabetes?”
I think diabetes doesn’t make me a better cyclist but cycling makes me a better diabetic, I think they go hand in hand. Riding my bike and controlling my condition is much more easier, I just say they perfect match. I feel this off season when I am not riding my bike is much more difficult to manage with my condition but when I’m regularly training is much more easier to take under control the level of glucose in my blood.

“Which are your favourite competitions and which one you’d like to take part to?”
I have participated to all kind of events and races all around the world and I’m super grate to the team for everything I have seen and definitely my favourite race is Tour of California and I’m sad it doesn’t take place  anymore, I really loved that race and in general I love all the races in United Stares. I think it’s something like a reward after tough sprint or hard races in Europe because there is less stress and a more relaxed atmosphere in US competitions. But I also love Milano San Remo, I did it for 4 times, it’s a super Monument and I think it’s the dream of every young cyclist so happily I can say I have done Monument in my life so that’s really great. I still like to participate in a Grand Tour, of course Tour de France would be the number one but to be realistic any of the three ones would be phenomenal and I really hope the team will do one of these at one point and that is what I would expect so when I will be old I could say “I did a Grand Tour”

“Which are your goals for this season?”
My goal for the season is to help the team to grow further as we did in the past. We improve all the time and I really love to help the team to reach a victory this season: I really believe we have the ability now to do so and of course I think also I’m part of it. I must strengthen in long breakaways and fight for result in a small group would be ideal for me because it’s a dream of mine go for professional victory and that’s what I tried to do in the last years but the level is super high, it’s not easy: you need good luck, good form and we will see what will happen this season and also the Nationals will be my goals because for many years I was close to win but I have never been the first at the finish line. I did it in junior but not in professional and it will be great to win the jersey and represent my country in all the world.

“The situation of cycling in Finland”
I think the cycling in Finland is going up for sure, now there are really a lot of promising juniors and of course Jaakko Hänninen is already riding for World Tour team and also the National Champion Antti-Jussi Juntonen is improving a lot over years so I think is just a matter of time before we will see him in a big team. Also in the women side there is my wife Lotta, who is the greatest champion of ever of Finnish women and she also mentioned me Anniina Ahtosalo who already won a World Tour junior race in Italy so many good things are going on for cycling in Finland, of course I don’t think we will become a cyclist country but this sport is growing and in future everything will be better, I’m sure.