Trek Factory Racing's Giacomo Nizzolo may not have gotten the stage win that he so desperately wanted at this year’s Giro d'Italia but his consistently strong finishes in the bunch kicks helped secure him the overall points classification’s red jersey in Milan on Sunday, and seal his place amongst the sport’s top sprinters.
"For sure to win both – a stage and the jersey – would have been the perfect scenario, but anyway I can be happy to win this jersey here in Milan, which is my city and I am really proud to go on the podium," Nizzolo said in a team press release.
The Italian joined a former version of the team, Leopard-Trek, in 2011 as a 22-year-old up-and-coming sprinter and has been with the outfit through their title sponsor changes to RadioShack and Trek Factory Racing.
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During that time he has had multiple strong performances and last season he proved to be Trek Factory Racing's top sprinter with two wins; stage 3 at the Tour de San Luis and stage 2 at the Tour de Wallonie. Perhaps more impressively he had 12 podium places, including five at the Giro d'Italia where he also placed second overall in the points classification, showing his promise as a Grand Tour sprinter.
In total, Nizzolo, who is now 26, has sprinted to seven second-place finishes at the Giro d'Italia; one in 2013, four in 2014, and two this year during stage 13 in Lido di Jesolo and stage 17 in Lugano.
Although he failed to achieve a stage win, his consistent finishes in the sprints over three weeks were the key to his success in the points competition. Two second-place finishes combined with three fifth places and a sixth place landed him in the jersey with 181 points. BMC's double stage winner Philippe Gilbert was second with 148 points and Lampre-Merida's double stage winner Sacha Modolo was third with 147, while Team Sky's Elia Viviani ended up fourth overall with 144 points.
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