Matt Walls of Bora-Hansgrohe secures impressive victory at Gran Piemonte from Giacomo Nizzolo and Olav Kooij

ByAlexander Netherton

Updated 07/10/2021 at 18:03 GMT

British cyclist Matt Walls was victorious at the Gran Piemonte event on Thursday afternoon in Italy for German squad Bora-Hansgroge. He beat Italian Qhubeka rider Giacomo Nizzolo, who took second place, and third place wentto Olav Kooij of Dutch side Jumbo-Visma, as the cycling season draws to a close.

Bora-Hansgrohe rider Matt Walls won the Gran Piemonte in Borgosesia in a bunch sprint from Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka) and Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma).

Walls, who emerged as the 2021 Olympic omnium champion, overcame Max Richeze (UAE Team Emirates), before holding off Nizzolo and Kooij. UAE Team Emirates rider Matteo Trentin finished fourth, with Intermarche-Wanty’s-Gobert’s Biniam Girmay in fifth.

The contest was initially dominated by a break from Manuele Boaro (Astana-PremierTech), Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto Soudal), Marc Soler (Movistar), Mattias Skjelmose Jensen (Trek-Segafredo) and Marco Frapporti (Vini Zabu), but they never broke too far beyond the chasing pack.

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With a little under 30km to go, the sprinters closed in on the leading riders, before Walls eventually claimed victory.

"They were all there coming towards the end, I saw my opportunity to go and I went for it," said Walls after the race.

"It was pretty hectic coming in towards the finish, there were a couple of crashes or something, but I think it helped a lot being able to position myself well in the bunch."

Walls delighted with Gran Piemonte success

"It's really big, it shows that I can perform on the top level on the road," Walls said. "I knew I could do it on the track after the Olympics. so it's nice to be able to do that on the road as well."

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