In an unprecedented three-in-a-row string of victories for RADIOSHACK LEOPARD TREK, Giacomo Nizzolo outkicked the others to take a second sprint victory in as many days.

Saturday’s queen stage of climbing was not meant for the sprinters, but Giacomo Nizzolo survived the final split in the peloton along with 29 other riders.  Nizzolo:  “The goal today was to suffer as much as possible.  We also had the ambitions to protect with Bob and Jan on GC so I was instructed to hold the wheels as much as I could.  We ended up catching them at 3 or 4 km to go and I prepared for the sprint.  At the last corner I was third and I started my sprint at 100 metres.  It was a little bit uphill and it was hard.”   Nizzolo finished ahead of Alexey Tsatevitch of Katusha.  Teammate Bob Jungels is fifth on GC at six seconds behind race leader Jonathan Hivert (Sojasun).

Nizzolo’s win marks the third win in three days for the RADIOSHACK LEOPARD TREK.  In the Tour de Suisse on Thursday, Gregory Rast earned his first stage victory in his home tour, sending team morale up the confidence scale.  Then on Friday Nizzolo scored a sprint win in the Skoda Tour de Luxembourg, and notched up one more victory in Saturday’s 178.8km stage from Eschweiler to Diekirch to cap off the run of wins.

Teammates Jan Bakelants and Bob Jungels had ambitions for the stage win and yellow jersey as the team GC riders.  On the final climb of Heulewee in Diekirch, the duo attacked and managed to get away.  They caught the remains of the day’s break in Karsten Kroon, but all three were brought back at 3km to go from the chasing efforts of team Blanco.

Bakelants:  “I was trying for the stage win and we wanted to put Bob in yellow.  The team did so much work during the day, chasing hard to bring back the break of three.  We had to chase so hard.  If our team hadn’t done that hard work, there would be no win today – someone from the break would have won.”

Asked how hard the final climb was, Giacomo Nizzolo said, “My goal today was to die on the bike on this climb.  In the end I just made it in the peloton with about 30 guys and my teammates in the front.  When we caught them I got ready for the sprint.  I am so tired now.  But the morale on the team is so high; the win today was easier.”

When told that today’s stage was the queen stage of climbing and perhaps he could go for another sprint win on Sunday’s final stage, he replied, “Well, when you say today was the queen stage, then perhaps I will think about it.  In my head today I was thinking this was my last chance.  We’ll see what happens.”

The Skoda Tour de Luxembourg comes to a conclusion on Sunday.  The final stage begins in Mersch and ends in Luxembourg at 143.6km.