Nick Schultz showed his form in the hard fought finale of Milano – Torino to sprint to ninth place from the reduced chase group, behind solo winner Alberto Bettiol (EFE).
As soon as the race hit the three climbs of the day, the breakway’s days were numbered and as the action kicked off on the Prascorsano climb inside the final 35 kilometers, Schultz was always at the front flying the IPT flag. Bettiol managed to hold the chase group off and Schultz crossed the line nine seconds later in the first chase group.
“Overall I’m satisfied with today’s performance,” explained Schultz. “I was a late addition to the roster and I was keen to see where my form was at after a hard training block at home. I felt strong on the climbs and found myself in a select group behind the lone leader, Bettiol. I would say I lacked some experience in managing that final 15km and thought that the teams with numbers would be more committed to racing for the victory rather than just the minor placings. I made some mistakes for sure, but the team was great all day and I’m happy to have at least been up there and been in the mix.”
After a lengthy recovery from injury, Jake Stewart made his IPT debut today and despite not racing since September last year, the 24-year-old impressed with 18th place.
“It was so good to be back in a team environment and racing with the boys!,” said Stewart. “It was a super nice race to make my debut. Good weather, easy first 100 kilometers, nice views, great atmosphere with the boys, so I can’t ask for much better! It didn’t take me too long to reacquaint myself with the bunch and the fight into the finals, which is a good thing because now I’m off to the chaos in Belgium.
“In the end it didn’t play out to the sprint that we wanted, the climbs were a little harder than expected but Schultzie was able to play his hand there in the front and was moving well. Most importantly, a big thanks to the team and all the staff that have put their faith and hard work into me to get me back to racing at near to my best level.”
