Making it two wins in as many days, RadioShack-Leopard rider Giacomo Nizzolo took stage 2 in the Skoda Tour de Luxembourg on Friday, taking a straight-up sprint victory on the 173.1km course from Shifflange to Walferdange.

Giacomo Nizzolo:  “Today was not easy. Especially because the guys in the breakaway went so fast and the peloton didn’t give them much space so we all went fast the entire day. Then in the final we had the hard climb with many, many attacks. At the bottom for the last time, I asked the guys to help me, especially Bob Jungels. I have to say a big, big thank you to him. This is his home race and he gave 100% to me. The sprint, with just 25 riders left, was not in one line as we approached the finish. The Saxo-Tinkoff rider Kump went first and I went on his wheel until I started my sprint at 100 meters to go. It’s funny because he is the guy who hit my wheel yesterday and broke my derailleur so I didn’t win, but today I won and he was second.” 

Nizzolo’s win comes one day after teammate Gregory Rast took victory in stage 6 of the Tour de Suisse, making it back-to-back highly successful days of racing for the team.

Nizzolo, 24, comes from a track background but upon switching to road the Italian sprinter saw immediate success with 11victories in 2009 and another twelve in 2010 prior to turning professional. His palmares include the overall win in the 2012 Tour de Wallonie. Giacomo carries the build of a true sprinter and puts out amazing watts near the end of a race. Combined with the ability to tackle the medium mountains with reserves still in the tank, Nizzolo is always a threat on the finish line.

Giacomo Nizzolo took part in his home tour, the 2013 Giro d’Italia, last May, taking second place once and fourth place twice. After the Giro many riders take a break but Nizzolo has held his form, bringing it with him to Luxembourg: “I can tell you that to keep my form for two weeks after the Giro is hard but I’ve been very focused on the Tour of Luxembourg and I came here in very good shape. I wanted to use this condition in this race. Yesterday I had bad luck but today it was good.”

Racing continues through Sunday in Luxembourg and Nizzolo vows to stay competitive: “This is a very important race for us. We are a Luxembourgish team so we have focused on this race and we are showing that we are motivated.”