Thibau Nys continued his impressive neo-pro streak of success with Trek-Segafredo, winning the GP Kantons Aargau in Switzerland, the one-day race that precedes the Tour de Suisse.
Nys emerged from the shadows on the rising finish to win by several bike lengths ahead of Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Marco Haller (Bora-hansgrohe) and Alexander Kamp (Tudor Pro Cycling Team).
Nys took his first professional win at the Tour of Norway in May, after taking second on a stage at the Tour de Romandie.
"It's unbelievable. If you had told me before the season I wouldn't have believed you," Nys said after the victory. "I'm fully aware that it will go with ups and downs in the future but I can only enjoy from the moments we have right now. I'm really grateful for the opportunities that the Team gave me and I'm happy to finish it off already for the second time this year.
"It's like living on a cloud and I hope I can keep it going.
"We had a really strong team with different options in the final. We came with a plan that could have gone a lot of different ways, but in the end I felt really good and I told the team I would try to survive over the last climb and that if it came to a sprint and they placed me in a good position then I had a good chance of winning.
"I felt really confident going into the sprint. I told Baro [Filippo Baroncini] to go third or fourth into the last corner and then sprint all out, and then I could finish it off. It was like something out of a book, everything went perfectly in the last kilometer. Also, Tony did a perfect job to get us in the best position in the last 500 meters. Baro launched the sprint and with 200 to go I was in the wheel and already felt like I would win. It feels amazing!"
The 173.88km GP Gippingen, now officially known as the Grosser Preis des Kantons Aargau, covers a hilly circuit around the canton west of Zurich. The Rotberg climb is covered seven times but leaves the race finely balanced.
After an early break was caught with 37 km to go, Finn Fisher-Black of UAE Team Emirates made a strong solo attack and opened a 30-second lead. However the final climb of the Rotberg hurt the young Kiwi rider and a 30-rider peloton caught him to set-up a reduced sprint finish.
Late attacks by Victor Lafay (Cofidis) and Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) were pulled back and then former Under 23 World Champion Filippo Baroncini helped position Nys for his winning effort.
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