Giacomo Nizzolo once again proved his consistency as one of the fastest in the pro peloton capturing his 10th podium of the season in Paris-Bourges Thursday.

The 65th edition of the French autumn classic included 190.3 kilometers with a few small bumps along the way, but as usual was expected to end with a fast grouped finish.The three-man breakaway that formed in the first hour had little hope to hold off the peloton, especially with most teams hungry for a sprint ending.

“The race was controlled from the start with Cofidis and we helped them as also did FDJ,” explained team director Alain Gallopin. “There were too many teams that wanted to control the race for a sprint. I played the card of Giacomo, and he made the podium same as last year.”

“When you have a sprinter like Bouhanni here I think the best chance is with Giacomo,” Gallopin continued, talking about the choice to go with Nizzolo for the sprint, “but also Danny [Van Poppel] had terrible travel yesterday in getting to the race and arrived late so Giacomo was in better shape for today. Simply, Danny was not super good after the travel of yesterday and also when it’s a finish for a pure sprinter, Giacomo has more chance.”

Trek Factory Racing lent its energy into the chase, using neo-pro Julien Bernard and Fumy Beppu to help Team Cofidis early on. Inside the final five kilometers, the last of the breakaway was tamed and it was apparent the day would belong to the fastmen; TFR immediately went to work for Nizzolo.

“Eugenio [Alafaci], Danny, and Jasper [Stuyven] helped me in the real finale and Rasty [Gregory Rast] pulled hard to bring the breakaway back,” said Nizzolo of the last kilometers of the race. “The last kilometer was tricky with a lot of corners, but I remembered the final corner being further from the finish line and so I was sitting a little too far back. I waited too much and when I looked to the front it was already 150 meters to go and I started my sprint, but it was obviously too late. I was coming up much faster on the others, so I am a little bit disappointed because I thought today I could be better. But okay, it’s the end of the season and to see that I can still perform like this it is a good sign.”

"The team was good and we did what we had to do,” agreed Gallopin, “but Bennett is fast and Bouhanni, too. When you see behind Demare, Feillu…it’s a good result. A podium is always important for a team and I happy with everyone’s work today. Now we will see for Sunday [Paris-Tours] because it is a different race and not certain to end in a sprint like today.”

Paris-Tours will be the final race of the season for Giacomo Nizzolo, and although it will be a more difficult race to control for a sprint finish, he is confident the team will be there in the end to fight for the win again:

“Sunday will be a different race than today, it will be longer and more competitors. But after the World Championships my form is good so we will see in the finale on how to manage the best and try and be there for the victory. But we are confident, the guys are feeling good, and hopefully we will have a good day.”