Vuelta a Burgos: Nizzolo wins stage 1

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Giacomo Nizzolo (Dimension Data) took victory on stage 1 of the Vuelta a Burgos, edging out Mikel Aranburu (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) on the hilltop finish in Burgos. Eduard Grosu (Delko Marseille Provence) took third place, five seconds back.

The trio had jumped away from the peloton on the 0.9km, 6.1 per cent climb to the medieval castle overlooking the town, with Nizzolo demonstrating his climbing chops on the punchy hill.

A 200-metre stretch of cobblestones on the climb didn't faze him either, and he stuck with Aranburu before coming past just before the line. After the stage, the Italian dedicated his victory to Bjorg Lambrecht.

How it unfolded

The opening stage of the race was a largely flat day, with two third-category climbs of the Alto del Castillo packed into the final 15km. For much of the day, it was standard sprint stage fare, though the finale packed a sting in the tail.

A five-mean break made it away early on. The riders in question were Jesús Ezquerra (Burgos-BH), Roy Goldstein (Israel Cycling Academy), Stepan Kurianov (Gazprom-RusVelo), Joan Aranburu (Fundación Euskadi) and Diego Sevilla (Kometa Cycling Team). Their advantage peaked at six minutes early on, before stabilising to between two and three minutes for much of the day.

It was a quiet race for the most part, with the main action coming on the two categorised climbs clustered at the end of the stage. Ezquerra attacked on the first of them, 15km from the line. He took the points over the third-category climb, and pushed on alone.

He managed to hang out front until the 7.5km mark, at which point the peloton, led by Astana and Bahrain-Merida, brought him back. At the same time there was a crash in the middle of the peloton, which saw Kevin Rivera (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) among the riders to hit the deck.

Ineos hit the front as the peloton headed back to Burgos to finish atop the Alto del Castillo, while further back in the peloton Rafael Valls (Movistar) crashed hard over the central reservation in the road.

On the hard-paced climb to the finish, a handful of riders sprinted away from the pack, with Aranburu leading Grosu and Nizzolo up the hill. Grosu dropped away before the finish, leaving Nizzolo to come around the Caja Rural rider to narrowly take his third victory of the season, along with the race lead.

Full Results

Finish – Burgos, 162km

Mountain 1 – Alto del Castillo, 148km

Mountain 2 – Alto del Castillo, 162km

Teams

General classification after stage 1

Points classification

Mountain classification

Team classification