Cycling
Hugo Houle and Guillaume Boivin bring Giacomo Nizzolo to the top 5
Hugo Houle and Guillaume Boivin of the Israel-Premier Tech team wanted to help their Italian teammate Giacomo Nizzolo get a good result in their second race of the weekend. They can say mission accomplished as Nizzolo found himself fifth in the final sprint at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne on Sunday in Belgium.
“We got hot a few times when Nizzolo was left behind. my task today [dimanche] was to stay with him and do everything possible to put him in the best possible situation for the final. As a team, we managed to do a very good job on that side, ”explained Houle in an interview with Sportcom.
Nizzolo was in the race for victory until the last moment, but in the end it was Dutchman Fabio Jakobsen (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) who won. Australian Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal), Frenchman Hugo Hofstetter (Arkéa Samsic) and Briton Daniel McLay (Arkéa Samsic) were the only other athletes ahead of Nizzolo.
“After the last climb, there were about ten riders left to catch up. We did a massive sprint to close the gap with the help of several other teams. My work was done afterwards. We are really happy with the work of the team,” added the cyclist from Sainte-Perpétue.
In addition to their work as teammates, Houle and Boivin did well on a personal level by finishing in the chase group 7 seconds behind the leaders. They respectively took the 54and and 55and ranks.
My feelings were excellent, everything went well. The result in itself doesn’t bother me that much. I’m happy to have generated a lot of power, it was a good tactical race for me as well.
Hugo Houle
In the leading group, Nickolas Zukowsky (Human Powered Health) obtained the best Quebec result of the day with a 35and square. He was also the first to cross the finish line for his team. His teammate Pier-André Côté finished 9 minutes 55 seconds behind the leaders.
“On a personal level, I felt good, I had very good legs. It was not a great race for our team, it was very difficult with the cobbled sections and the hills in the middle of the race. I managed to place myself in the lead group by a pinch,” Zukowsky said.
“I was on my own at the end, it was super fast and I had a bit of difficulty getting good positioning. I know very well that I can’t compete with the best in the world in a sprint, but I did my best not to lag behind too much. »
Raphael Parisella (B&B Hotels-KTM) was the youngest competitor to take part in this race on Sunday. The 19-year-old athlete, however, was unable to complete the 195.1 kilometer loop.
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Sophia Jhon is a sports journalist and author. He has worked as a news editor for Sportish and is now a sport columnist for the same publication. Alberta’s professional interests lie largely in sports news, with an emphasis on English football. He has also written articles on other sporting topics.