Nizzolo triumphs in Aalter

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Giacomo Nizzolo (RadioShack-Nissan) won for the first time at the WorldTour level with a savvy sprint victory in the Eneco Tour's fifth stage. The 23-year-old Italian took advantage of a momentary stalemate amongst the sprinters with 300m to go and rocketed up the left side of the road, drawing several bike lengths clear of his rivals.

Jurgen Roelandts (Lotto Belisol) came charging in hot pursuit of Nizzolo, but the Italian held him off for the win by the slimmest of margins. Roelandts actually thought he had won the stage, as did Nizzolo, but the photo finish camera confirmed that the young Italian indeed crossed the finish line first.

Manuel Belletti (AG2R La Mondiale) rounded out the top three, followed by Arnaud Demare (FDJ-Big Mat) and race leader Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-QuickStep).

"The final was really chaotic, like every sprint in the Eneco Tour," said Nizzolo. "The team did a good job keeping me safe and I'd really like to thank them for their support. In the end I managed to find a good spot in the last kilometer. I think I was in 10th position between the red kite and 500m to go. I launched my sprint at 300 meters which is still far, but I managed to stay in front. I thought Roelandts had won. I returned to the bus angry and frustrated but then I saw the photo finish and I was happy again!"

Nizzolo recently won the general classification at the Tour de Wallonie and has been in the mix for each of the sprint finishes at the Eneco Tour. "My shape is really going up right now," said Nizzolo. "I came here with ok condition but it's improving. Yesterday it was good but today I really had good legs. I'm very happy with this win and I'm looking forward to my next races at Hamburg and Plouay."

The top of the general classification remains unchanged as Boonen continues in the leader's jersey with two stages remaining in the Eneco Tour. Jens Keukeleire (Orica-GreenEdge) holds second overall at one second, followed by two of Boonen's teammates at two seconds, Sylvain Chavanel and Niki Terpstra.

Dmitriy Muravyev (Astana), Laurens De Vreese (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) and Sjef De Wilde (Accent Jobs-Willems Veranda's) went out on the attack early in the stage and pushed their lead out to in excess of five minutes, but the teams of the sprinters ensured their escape wouldn't endure through to the finish with the catch coming at 25 kilometers to go.

The teams had a preview of the finish line as they came through for a finishing circuit, but the technical finale, replete with roundabouts and assorted "road furniture", proved difficult for the sprinters' teams resulting in a rather chaotic conclusion to stage 5.