Nibali and Van de Walle take mid-week wins
- By VeloNews.com
- Published Jun. 24, 2009
- Updated Jun. 25, 2009 at 7:16 AM UTC
Vicenzo Nibali (Liquigas) and Jurgen Van de Walle (Quick Step) notched a pair of victories Wednesday in mid-week racing.
Nibali won the Giro dell’Appennino in Italy after slipping away in a lone breakaway, revealing top shape at the dawn of the Tour de France with a solo, 47-second victory.
Coming across the line second was Leonardo Bertagnolli (Diquigiovanni), with Marco Marzano (Lampre) rounding out the podium in third.
In Belgium, Van de Walle gave Quick Step another win at the Halle-Ingooigem semi-classic. It’s the first victory on the season for Van de Walle, who was second at stage 1 at the Tour of California and second at stage 6 at the Dauphiné Libéré.
The 32-year-old Belgian won 4 seconds ahead of Mitchell Docker (Skil-Shimano), with Gene Michael Bates (Drapac Porsche) snagging third at 14 seconds back. Greg Van Avermaet (Silence-Lotto) came across the line fourth at 2:48 in arrears.