In a nervous and hectic edition of the Belgian one-day race, the Heistse Pijl, Giacomo Nizzolo finished second. Guillaume Boivin also finished in the top-10: eighth.
It was Nizzolo’s first race since his unfortunate DNF in the Giro d’Italia. After the race, the Italian sprinter said he is not in great shape yet. “I did not have the legs to sprint better than I did, and that made the difference between winning and podiuming today.”
Nizzolo was in an excellent position before the final passage over the Heistseberg (400 meters, 5% average, with the top merely one kilometer from the finish line). He entered the hill in the third position, as Guillaume Boivin did a fantastic job delivering him to the front. The Canadian champion himself finished eighth.
“In the descent, I was together with two other riders. We had a gap over the small second group, but it was too early to launch the sprint. I waited as long as I could, but also opened up first.”
“It was a very hectic and nervous race,” Nizzolo said correctly. It was a crash fest in the final 15 kilometers of racing. Itamar Einhorn was one of the riders that hit the deck, but he did finish the race.
Earlier, Rick Zabel went down and did not finish. IPT management will decide later if the German lead-out man will start in the Brussels Cycling Classic tomorrow.
