Youth continues to prevail in the peloton
Leopard Trek sprinter Giacomo Nizzolo secured his first professional victory in the fifth and final stage of the Bayern-Rundfahrt today. The 22 year old Italian was launched to the line perfectly off the efforts of teammates Fabian Cancellara and Fabian Wegmann, and outsprinted stage two victor John Degenkolb (HTC-Highroad) and stage one winner Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) to the line.
“Fabian Cancellara and Fabian Wegmann did a great job piloting Giacomo to the line,” explained Leopard Trek Sports Director Adriano Baffi. “Sky had a great train, but Giacomo outclassed them. It’s a relief to get something back after our bout of bad luck. Everybody is incredibly happy to see our efforts rewarded.”
The overall competition also saw a young winner, with 25 year old Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) holding onto his 17 second advantage over second placed Nicki Sorensen (Saxo Bank-Sungard). HTC-Highroad’s Michael Albasini finished in third.
“It’s great,” Thomas said on the team’s website when asked about his first overall success. “I didn’t really expect it coming into the race as we had Eddy and Brad and Christian [Knees] as well – we thought all four of us were capable of winning it and to be in that position is fantastic. It was a great end to the week – we’ve been on the podium every day as well so it’s a great race for us.”
The German Tour was run without the use of race radios, and Thomas said that fact had little impact on the team. “We’ve all worked really well together this week,” he continued. “Even without radios, we’ve known exactly what we’ve had to do and we’ve all communicated really well. I think it shows that after a full year together we are really starting to gel as a unit and as a team. It’s really paid off this week.”
The 150 kilometer route between Friedberg and Moosburg was expected to end in a sprint, but that didn’t stop Saxo Bank-Sungard’s Jaroslaw Marycz from trying to pull off a surprise. The polish rider went out on a long solo effort just 20 kilometers after the stage started, and remained the lone leader until he was caught with 6 kilometers left to race.
The sprinter’s teams began to get organized at the head of the race as the peloton hurled its way toward the finish line in Moosburg. It was the Leopard Trek team that got it right for their sprinter Nizzolo, with Team Sky and HTC-Highroad squads again putting in a strong performance.