Giacomo Nizzolo Sprints To Victory In Wallonie

Giacomo Nizzolo has won the sprint of a select group on the challenging third stage in the [W:Tour de Wallonie]. When a sprint finish between the remainder of the peloton was looming, RADIOSHACK NISSAN TREK set the young Italian up for the win in what could be called a miniature [W:Li?ge-Bastogne-Li?ge], with climbs like the C?te de Wanne, the Col de Stockeu, the C?te de la Vecqu?e and the Mont Theux. “I’m very, very happy with this win. I was a bit angry yesterday, because I positioned badly in the sprint. The sensation in the legs was good, so I knew I had the shape to do something. The team was amazing today. Jakob (Fuglsang) kept on telling me I had to go as hard as I could on the last climbs, because it could end up in a sprint.” “The course was up and down the whole day and we wanted to put all of our cards on the table today. We have a strong team here, so many things were possible”, says sports director Lars Michaelsen. “Giacomo is going really well here and I realized that he might just be the last sprinter remaining if the race really hardened.” RADIOSHACK NISSAN TREK had a large share in making the race tough. Laurent Didier was part of the first breakaway of fifteen riders. Michaelsen: “We need to have somebody in any large break, because if not, we would have had to chase hard. Laurent gladly took the responsibility. We knew that many riders from that break wouldn’t last over the C?t? de Wanne and the Col du Stockeu, halfway through the race, so the race would start all over again.” After Laurent Didier and Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil), the last breakaway riders remaining in the front, were caught, several scenarios unraveled. RSNT was part of almost every attempt and kept cool ahead of the big final. Ben Hermans was part of a three man attack with 12 km to go and [W:Jakob Fuglsang] responded to an attack of [W:Zdenek Stybar] (OPQS) with 9 km to go. Nizzolo: “I had saved as much energy as possible in the first part of the race – nice and warm, deep in the peloton. I suffered on the climbs, of course, but my legs felt fresh the whole day. Jakob, who’s a great road captain, told me to grit my teeth and go hard on the last two climbs. He was expecting that it would come together again and that we would sprint for the win. He was right. Once the last climb was done, I asked the guys to keep the speed high, so that no one would attack us. Matthew (Busche) did a great pace making in the last kilometers. Then Ben (Hermans) pulled really hard and finally Jakob gave me the perfect lead-out. I sprinted out of his wheel and nobody came close to catching me again.” In the back, there was a crash involving Pim Ligthart, the new overall leader. Ligthart was in the break and collected enough bonification seconds to take the lead. This is Giacomo Nizzolo’s second win as a professional rider, after winning a stage in the 2011 Bayern Rundfahrt.