As every year, the GP Kanton Aargau Gippingen featured plenty of the same roster that will line up at the Tour de Suisse on Saturday, and with nine UCI ProTeams taking the start the competition was fierce.

Held on a 12.1-kilometer circuit with a start and finish in the Swiss town of Gippingen, the peloton completed 15 laps for a total of 181.5-kilometers.

A six-man breakaway sparked the action for most of the day, but after 11 laps was whittled down to four riders. On the penultimate lap, the quartet’s time leading the race came to an end, and with still 20 kilometers to race the door opened wide for attacks.

It was a flurry of action to the end as numerous riders tried their best to thwart a sprint finish.  But the teams with sprinters – Trek Factory Racing included – made the effort to shut everything down and in the end it came down to a reduced bunch sprint.

“It’s normal when a race is on a circuit you have to keep cool and keep an eye on how the other teams are riding,” explained Nizzolo.  “We tried to save the legs as much as we could for the last laps. The plan was if I was still there we would ride for me, but if not then the others could follow the moves.”

Giacomo Nizzolo showed his form is strong 10 days after completing the Giro d’Italia where he won the red points jersey, and he easily handled the tough climb each circuit.

Nizzolo continued, “I was feeling pretty good on the climbs, and on the top of the last climb I was with the top 12-15 guys, which is really good, And also in the sprint I was not feeling too bad but I was sitting in the wind too long and on this sprint, which is a little bit uphill, you have to come to the front in the very last moment.”

While the red-hot Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) continued his winning ways and snatched another sprint victory, Nizzolo finished in a close sixth place. 

“The team did really well in the last two laps, but of course we don’t have a leadout here so I say thanks to them for the work they did,” he added. “I tried my best to finish off their work. Today was a nice test after the Giro, and of course I am a little tired, but on the climbs today I was feeling strong. That’s a good sign for Baku [European Games] and then I will take a bit of a rest.”

Director Kim Andersen was pleased with the team effort ahead of the Tour de Suisse, and gave his prospect to the WorldTour event that starts in two days:

“For Tour de Suisse it will be quite an open race I think as there is only one mountain stage. I think we can win stages, and we have Fränk [Schleck] and Julian [Arredondo] who seem to be going well.

“There are a lot of circuit races where a lot of things can happen; it’s good for Bob [Jungels] who is in quite good shape. Although the [UCI WorldTour] points are mostly in the GC, I think for us the biggest goal will be stages, which suit us better.”