In the closing meters RadioShack-Leopard fast man Giacomo Nizzolo was passed by Filippo Pozzato, leaving Nizzolo with a disappointed taste of what might have been in Sunday’s GP Ouest France-Plouay.

The 243km race included nine laps of a circuit and took almost six hours to complete. BMC used Greg Van Avermaet as a spoiler with a late attack, holding Thor Hushovd and Taylor Phinney in reserve for the sprint.  Van Avermaet stayed away until the race passed under the 1km to go banner, assuring the mass sprint.

“Second is nice but first is better. When someone passes you so close to the finish, it sucks. I felt really good today but because of the crash we missed some guys in the last lap so that wasn’t good for us. In the last lap I tried to follow the attacks and found myself between the attackers and the bunch. I spent too much energy there, I believe. I waited for the field and we brought back the front group,” Nizzolo said to the RSLT webpage.

BMC’s Greg Van Avermaet was away until less than 1km to go, and then the sprinters went to work for the final.

“Tony [Gallopin] helped me out in the last kilometers. I started my sprint a bit early because last year I was too late. It’s a tricky finish here and very easy to get boxed in. But at five or ten meters to go, Pozzato passed me. My performance was super today but the result is not so good. I mean, only winning counts. If you get beaten by someone who was clearly faster than you, you can live with it. This is a lot harder.”

Team director Alain Gallopin assessed the race: “I don’t think Giacomo made a mistake in his sprint. Our plan was to have him as our number one leader for today. He has proven in his recent races that he’s enjoying some great form right now. Danilo [Hondo] was set to be the last man with Giacomo. To complete the plan we had Tony as the spoiler to cover any dangerous attacks in the final.”

“Everything went well until the big crash in the second to last lap,” Gallopin continued, “Max [Monfort], Bob [Jungels] and Danilo [Hondo] were all held up by the crash and Tony went down. But he got up and back on his bike and was able to get back to the peloton. He then assumed the role we had set for Danilo.”

“Gallopin worked hard to drop Giacomo off at 250 meters to go, but then the speed went down in Nizzolo’s group and he was forced to start his sprint early. Gallopin: “He was in Hushovd’s wheel and didn’t see another option except to go. Pozzato came up from the right from another group that still had speed so he had to jump, also."

“This is obviously very disappointing for Giacomo and the team, but that’s the way it is. Also disappointing news came from Andy Schleck who was forced to abandon the race due to stomach problems. Hopefully Andy will feel better in the upcoming days.”