Giacomo Nizzolo (Radioshack) got his second appearence in the Giro d'Italia off to a solid start as he avoided the carnage at the end of yesterday's third stage and sprinted to 4th. The result was a great confidence boost for the young Italian who acknowledged that Cavendish had simply been too fast.

Radioshack has started this year's Giro d'Italia with a dual objective. The team wants Robert Kiserlovski to finish in the overall top 10 while Giacomo Nizzolo is expected to challenge the best sprinters in the flatter and moderately hilly stages.

The team got its quest to fulfill the latter of those two objectives off to a solid start as Nizzolo sprinted to 4th in yesterday's opening stage. He benefited from the experience of his lead-out man Danilo Hondo who steered clear of the big crash with 2km to go and then brought his young sprinter into a perfect position in the wheel of eventual runner-up Elia Viviani (Cannondale).

Despite the defeat the result was another testament to the good form Nizzolo after he took a fine 2nd place in the first stage of the Tour de Romandie. With the firm objective of improving on his 3rd place in stage 8 in his Giro debut last year he faces the rest of the race with increased confidence, especially with a number of lumpy stages perfectly suited to the young Italian coming up later in the first week.

“There was a crash and things split up," he explained. "We were in the front with Danilo.  At 500m he moved up with me in the wheel.  It was a strong effort by him.  I started the sprint at 200m and tried to go but I just couldn’t get the victory.  Cavendish was just too fast.  But for sure it gives good morale to the team and confidence to me for a good start to the Giro.  Danilo did a great job for me.  We had good feelings all during the race, even before the sprint.  Part of the team rode with Robert and the others for me.  We feel good.”

Danilo Hondo was instrumental in Nizzolo's result and the veteran German made use of his experience to avoid the carnage.

“The last five kilometers in a grand tour are always difficult and it’s hard to find a good position, " he said. "Our team worked so well in the circuits, doing the right things to stay in position and conserve energy.  I wish it had been a little faster at the end, but the three hard corners made it difficult and I knew for sure there would be a crash.  I could feel it would happen.  So I stayed on the inside of the corners and pulled the guys along.  We waited as long as we could to move forward and help Giacomo. Giacomo was so close today but Cavendish was the fastest. We are happy with want we saw and we move forward now.”

The team also had its fair share of bad luck on a crash-marred day. The team's experienced Ukranian even hit the deck twice but appears to have escaped his tumbles relatively unscathed.

“I just lost a little skin in two crashes," he said. "My wheel slipped on the outside of a corner, it sort of felt like ice in the first crash.  Then in the very last part I was there in a crash too at 2km before the end.  It happened in front of me and I tried to avoid it, and it wasn’t so bad.  I’m a little skinned up on both sides but it shouldn’t be a problem."

The team now turns its attention to today's team time trial on the island of Ischia. With a number of strong time triallists like Nelson Oliveira, Tiago Machado, Hayden Roulsten, Jesse Sergent and Popovych on the roster the Luxembourg team is one of the outsiders for the win and have a good chance to give Kiserlovski a solid start to his GC campaign.

Starting at 15.30 you can follow the stage in its entirety on CyclingQuotes.com/live.