Giacomo Nizzolo (RadioShack-Leopard) sprinted to his second victory in two days as he outpaced the rest of the peloton at the end of the third stage of the 2013 Skoda Tour de Luxembourg, between Eschweiler and Diekirch. The 24-year-old Italian, whose win the previous day had been his first of the season, beat Alexei Tsatevich (Katusha) and Pierpaolo De Negri (Vini Fantini-Selle Italia) at the end of the 179km stage.
Safely finishing in the peloton behind Nizzolo, race leader Jonathan Hivert (Sojasun) held on to his yellow jersey at the head of an unchanged general classification.
“The goal today was to suffer as much as possible,” said Nizzolo afterwards. “We also had the ambitions to protect with Bob [Jungels] and Jan [Bakelants] 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.”
The stage was dominated by a three-rider breakaway, after Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha) managed to escape for the third time of asking after 20km, in the company of Karsten Kroon (Saxo-Tinkoff) and Bjorn Thurau (Europcar). Despite Kroon being just 40 seconds behind Hivert in the general classification, in 37th place, the Sojasun team allowed the trio to build a substantial lead.
Midway through the stage there was a counterattack from Mattia Pozzo (Vini Fantini-Selle Italia), Sjef De Wilde (Differdange-Losch), and Duber Quintero and Juan Pablo Valencia (both Colombia). Valencia left this new group behind, and tried to make his way across to the three leaders.
The leading trio was 6’10” ahead of the peloton with 70km to go, as Valencia vainly tried to get across the gap. The Colombian was eventually pulled back, but the break was still 4’30” clear as it crossed the line with three 11.1km finishing circuits - which featured the steep climb of the Huelewee - to go.
RadioShack-Leopard leading was the chase, and cut the gap to 2’30” the next time across the line, and 1’26” at the bell. Having been first over every climb of the stage - and securing himself the lead in the mountains classification - Thurau was dropped on the final climb of the Huelewee with just under ten kilometres to go, as RadioShack-Leopard pair Bob Jungels and Jan Bakelants attacked from the peloton behind them.
Blanco Pro Cycling was on the head of the peloton by now, however, and pulled back the breakaway riders before the finish, with Ignatiev and Kroon only caught in the final kilometre.
Result stage 3
1. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) RadioShack-Leopard
2. Alexei Tsatevich (Rus) Katusha Team
3. Pierpaolo De Negri (Ita) Vini Fantini-Selle Italia
4. Paul Martens (Ger) Blanco Pro Cycling
5. Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM
6. Nico Sijmens (Bel) Cofidis
7. Egoitz Garcia (Spa) Cofidis
8. Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Team Europcar
9. Wouter Poels (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM
10. Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Sojasun
Standings after stage 3
1. Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Sojasun
2. Matthias Brändle (Aut) IAM Cycling @ 2s
3. Paul Martens (Ger) Blanco Pro Cycling @ 3s
4. Damien Gaudin (Fra) Team Europcar @ 5s
5. Bob Jungels (Lux) RadioShack-Leopard @ 6s
6. Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM
7. Robert Gesink (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling @ 7s
8. Maarten Wynants (Bel) Blanco Pro Cycling @ 8s
9. Sébastien Hinault (Fra) IAM Cycling @ 9s
10. Jan Bakelandts (Bel) RadioShack-Leopard