Giacomo Nizzolo has won the morning stage at the Tour International du Poitou-Charentes. Aidis Kruopis remains in the white leader’s jersey going into the 22,1 km afternoon time trial.
The young Italian has kept onto his good form from the Tour de Wallonie and the Eneco Tour and outsprinted Denis Flahaut and Maxime Le Montagner to the line, taking his fourth victory of the season.
Giacomo: “I’m happy to see that my shape is staying on a high level. Yesterday I was angry with how I rode the sprint. Today, the team was determined to help me win and they did great!”
DS Dirk Demol: “Giacomo was really motivated to do something today. We have been sitting back a bit in the first two days, because our big goal is Plouay, on Sunday, but yesterday night Giacomo asked me to set up a train for him. At 20 km to go, the break was still out there and they worked really hard. At one point, the race radio said ‘RadioShack au complet en tête’: RadioShack complete at the front’. That’s nice to hear.”
Stage 3 (99,4km) of the Tour International du Poitou-Charentes was between Pleumartin and La Roche Posay. A break of four riders went early on, but was caught after 60 km. Straight after, a threesome tried again and they were caught with 6 km to go.
Giacomo: “There was a lot of stress in the final, but Popo and Robert did a great job in keeping me safe and in a good position. In the final, Jesse came in to help and they brought me in a good position for the last 600 meters. There was a crash in the last turn, with two riders from Landbouwkrediet, but I managed to get around and won with a good distance to the second.”
“I will take it easy this afternoon, because the race on Sunday is our goal. This is very good for the confidence and I’m looking forward to Plouay!”
