Plouay (France) (AFP)
The Italian Giacomo Nizzolo was crowned European cycling champion by winning with a breath in the sprint ahead of the French Arnaud Démare and the German Pascal Ackermann on Wednesday in Plouay (Morbihan).
This is the second victory in four days for Nizzolo, Italian champion on Sunday, and the third title in a row for his country in this event, after Matteo Trentin (2018) and Elia Viviani (2019).
The Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, crowned champion of the Netherlands on Sunday after a solo raid of more than 40 km, was still very strong but the grandson of Raymond Poulidor found himself locked in the final sprint and finished at the foot of the podium.
Under a sometimes hazy sun, the teammates of Nizzolo and Démare controlled the race, contested over 13 laps for a total of 117.45 km and marked by several harmless breakaways and repeated attacks at the front of the peloton.
If the Pole Pawel Bernas spent most of the time in front, in two successive breakaways over more than a hundred kilometers, the race was especially animated by the attempts of Van der Poel to distort company to the peloton to 50, then 30, then 25 km. But they were systematically countered, in particular by Trentino, who hardly ever let go of the Dutchman's wheel.
The game was tougher for the Belgians and Norwegians, who lost their sprinters Jasper Philipsen and Alexander Kristoff in a big crash at the finish line with five laps to go, while the Germans, left behind by a leading peloton launched at a steady pace, left Ackermann alone for the sprint.
31-year-old Giacomo Nizzolo, winner of the Giro points classification in 2015 and 2016 and crowned Italian champion on Sunday for the second time in his career, will not have time to celebrate his titles since he is expected to Nice to take the start of the Tour de France on Saturday with the South African team NTT.
© 2020 AFP