Nizzolo sprints to victory in Beaufays

Giacomo Nizzolo (RadioShack-Nissan) won stage 3 of the Tour de Wallonie today at the conclusion of a hard day of racing in the Belgian Ardennes. The 23-year-old Italian sprinted to his first victory of the season which also earned him the leader's jersey.

Mikhail Ignatyev (Katusha) followed Nizzolo across the line in second place while Gianni Meersman (Lotto Belisol) finished third.

The kick to the finish was marred by a crash inside the final 100 meters with several riders hitting the tarmac, including Pieter Jacobs (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator), Guillaume Bonnafond (AG2R La Mondiale), Michael Barry (Sky), Michel Kreder (Garmin-Sharp), Egoitz Garcia (Cofidis), Steve Morabito (BMC) and Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil-DCM). All managed to get up and cross the finish line but the extent of their injuries have yet to be confirmed.

"I'm very, very happy with this win," said Nizzolo. "I was a bit angry yesterday, because I was positioned badly in the sprint. The sensation in the legs was good, so I knew I had the shape to do something. The team was amazing today. Jakob [Fuglsang] kept on telling me I had to go as hard as I could on the last climbs, because it could end up in a sprint.

"Once the last climb was done, I asked the guys to keep the speed high, so that no one would attack us. Matthew [Busche] did a great pace making in the last kilometers. Then Ben [Hermans] pulled really hard and finally Jakob gave me the perfect lead-out. I sprinted out of his wheel and nobody came close to catching me again."

The general classification still remains tight with two stage to go. Nizzolo moves into the leader's jersey, but is tied on time with Pigthart. Ignatyev holds third overall at one second while Lloyd Mondory (AG2R La Mondiale) lies in fourth at nine seconds. Overnight race leader Danilo Napolitano (Katusha) did not find the hilly parcours to his liking and finished in a group more than 27 minutes behind Nizzolo, surrendering the leader's jersey to his compatriot.

Covering 186km from Marche en Famenne to Beaufays, the stage featured nine categorised climbs including several which are part of the Liège-Bastogne-Liège spring classic's route: the Côte de Wanne, Col de Stockeu, Côte de la Vecquée and Mont Theux.

Attacks came fast and furious from the start of racing culminating in an early break comprised of 15 riders: David Boucher (FDJ-Big Mat), Martijn Maaskant (Garmin-Sharp), Marco Haller (Katusha Team), Kenny De Haes (Lotto Belisol Team), Francesco Chicchi (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), Laurent Didier (RadioShack-Nissan), Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team), Claudio Corioni (Acqua & Sapone), Maxime Anciaux, Antoine Demoitie, Loic Pestiaux, Boris Vallee (all Idemasport-Biowanze), Sébastien Delfosse (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony), Sébastien Chavanel (Team Europcar) and Tom Dernies (Wallonie Bruxelles-Credit Agricole).

Their advantage grew to more than three minutes with 101km remaining, but the arduous parcours coupled with chasing from BMC and Sky in the peloton worked to reduce the break's lead.

The escape group began to shatter on the 1-2 punch of the Côte de Wanne and Col de Stockeu ascents resulting in just Didier and Ligthart remaining at the head of affairs with a lead of less than one minute.

Joost Van Leijen (Lotto Belisol) tried to bridge from the peloton to the leaders, but with 37 kilometres remaining all of the attackers had been caught.

Several more riders attempted to escape in the ensuing kilometres, but nothing stuck until Ben Hermans (RadioShack-Nissan) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) attacked with 25 kilometres to the finish. The duo were joined by Alexandr Kolobnev (Katusha) and Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator), but with Belgian champion Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) taking strong pulls at the head of the field this escape, too, came to a conclusion at 15km to go.

Vladimir Isaichev (Katusha) struck out on his own and was soon joined by Hermans, Pieter Serry (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) and Carlos Betancur (Acqua & Sapone). The Russian couldn't handle the pace on the hilly terrain and was dropped and the remaining trio were brought back with 8km to the finish.

Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) launched an immediate counter-attack and drew out Acqua & Sapone's Danilo Di Luca and Carlos Betancur plus Steve Morabito (BMC). Under the impetus of a RadioShack-Nissan led field, reduced to approximately 30 riders at this point, the break was caught with five kilometres remaining.

One last attack was launched by Rémi Pauriol (FDJ-BigMat), but the three RadioShack-Nissan riders working for Nizzolo brought back the Frenchman and delivered their Italian teammate to the front where he claimed the stage win with a bike length to spare.