'It's really big, it shows that I can perform on the top level': Matt Walls jubilant after Gran Piemonte victory
The British rider agreed that his track experience helped him in the hectic finale
Matt Walls said that winning at the Italian Classic of Gran Piemonte "shows that I can perform on the top level" as he beats some of the world's best sprinters.
Walls, who is coming to the end of his first year as a professional road rider with Bora-Hansgrohe, followed the wheels perfectly to then launch a powerful sprint to the line, beating the likes of Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubekta-NextHash).
The 23-year-old has shown some superb form throughout the season with top 10s at the Tour de la Provence, gold in the Omnium at the Tokyo Olympic Games as well as victory on a stage of the Tour of Norway.
>>> Matt Walls powers to Gran Piemonte 2021 victory ahead of some of the world's best sprinters
Speaking after the race, Walls said: "The boys did a really good job getting me towards the closing kilometres and I picked a good wheel. I came off and I had enough in the tank for the sprint."
The wheel he picked was indeed a good one, as it was Argentinian Max Richeze (UAE Team Emirates), who was in the process of leading out Matteo Trentin.
"They were all there coming towards the end, I saw my opportunity to go and I went for it," Walls continued.
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"It was pretty hectic coming in towards the finish, there were a couple of crashes or something, but I think it [track cycling skills] helped a lot being able to position myself well in the bunch."
A late chicane saw a few riders, such as Elia Viviani (Cofidis) pull out of contention for the win, but Walls was perfectly placed.
"It's really big," he said. "It shows that I can perform on the top level on the road - 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."
Walls managed to hold off Nizzolo who was finishing with a lot of speed as well as 19-year-old Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) who had crashed with 18km to go, but still put in a strong sprint to take third.
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Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.
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