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By Agence France Presse
Up-and-coming Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Bianchi) stunned a host of favorites to win the Grand Prix Ouest-France Sunday in Plouay.
Nibali claimed his first victory in the ProTour series after 217km of racing on the tough Britanny circuit. The 22-year-old Sicilian held off experienced Spaniard Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank) in a two-man sprint after Flecha’s long-distance dash for the finish line ran out of steam.
Italian Manuele Mori (Saunier Duval-Prodir) finished third.
Spaniard Alejandro Valverde, who is taking part in the Vuelta a España, retained the lead of the ProTour series.
Nibali, a tall, skinny time-trial specialist who his team hopes will emerge as a contender in the major stage races, took control of his destiny in the final 100 meters as Flecha began to wane.
“I took a risk. It was all or nothing,” said Nibali, who has recently shown he can mix it with the more experienced riders in the peloton by finishing third place overall in the Eneco Tour of Benelux last week.
This was, however, only his second professional win, having claimed a stage in the Coppi-Bartali Week. Before then, he had shown his potential with two third-place finishes in the under-21 world time trial championship.
Organizers had toughened the race by adding an extra climb to encourage attacks and avoid last year’s photo finish, in which American George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) got the victory.
However, that failed to reduce the number of contenders, some of whom, notably Luxembourg’s Frank Schleck (CSC), found themselves mixed up in a crash 10km from the finish line.
Top 10
1. Vincenzo Nibali (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, 217km in 5:18:56
2. Juan Antonio Flecha (Sp), Rabobank, same time
3. Manuele Mori (I), Saunier Duval-Prodir, s.t.
4. Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr), Discovery Channel, at 0:05
5. Jakob Piil (Den), CSC, at 0:18
6. Filippo Pozzato (I), Quick Step-Innergetic, s.t.
7. Pierrick Fedrigo (F), Bouygues Telecom, s.t.
8. Serguei Ivanov (Rus), T-Mobile, s.t.
9. Gregory Rast (Swi), Phonak, s.t.
10. Fabian Wegmann (G), Gerolsteiner, s.t.