Thomas Voeckler lived up to his rep­u­ta­tion as one of the most aggres­sive rid­ers in the pro­fes­sional rac­ing with a dra­matic third place podium fin­ish at the Grand Prix Ouest France.

By rac­ing with panache through­out the French one-day clas­sic, the Tour de France hero proved he will end his highly suc­cess­ful sea­son the same way he started. Only a late attack by race-winner Grega Bole kept Voeckler out of a chance to win the pres­ti­gious French race.

“He was just amaz­ing,” said Europcar sport direc­tor Jean-René Bernaudeau. “He made the effort just when he needed to. He’s one of those rare rid­ers who knows when to attack.”

Voeckler led the chase of the attack­ing Bole, but the effort fell short with 300 meters to go. Racing to win, Voeckler crossed the line third, still good enough to earn a podium.

“Thomas always races to win,” Bernaudeau said. “Second or third, it doesn’t really make that big of a dif­fer­ence. It’s his style of rac­ing that’s so impressive.”

Cyril Gautier rep­re­sented Europcar col­ors in the day’s main break­away, with an eight-man break­away open­ing up 10:40 on the main pack.

The action came back together for the clos­ing, deci­sive kilo­me­ters when Voeckler returned to the hot end of the action.

Voeckler will keep rac­ing right through the fall, with his next race set for Paris-Bruxelles. He will close out the sea­son with Paris-Tours and the Giro di Lombardia, with a likely trip to the world cham­pi­onships in late September in Denmark.

Sacha Modolo (Colnago-CSF-Inox) just keeps get­ting bet­ter and better.

Just days after fin­ish­ing sec­ond in the test event in London on Sunday for the 2012 London Olympic Games, the Italian phe­nom­e­non bolted across the fin­ish line vic­to­ri­ous in Wednesday’s Coppa Agostoni in north­ern Italy.

Modolo made easy work of his rivals in the sprint fin­ish to cap a tremen­dous run dat­ing back to last month.

An early break pulled clear in the 200km race that included a pas­sage over the Madonna del Ghisallo, but Colnago-CSF-Inox kept Modolo well-positioned over the deci­sive climb. Modolo then proved he can bat­tle with the big guns when he made it into a select group of three dozen rid­ers to con­test for the spoils.

The vic­tory Modolo’s sixth, all of which have come since a return to action in July fol­low­ing a break after his par­tic­i­pa­tion in the Giro d’Italia.

The streak of good form bodes well for the 24-year-old Modolo ahead of the world cham­pi­onships on September 25 on a course well-suited for sprinters.

Sacha Modolo con­firmed yet again he’s arrived at the elite level with an impres­sive second-place sprint in Sunday’s Olympic test-ever race held on the same cir­cuit rac­ers will face next sum­mer in the Olympic Games.

Only sprinter super-star Mark Cavendish could keep Modolo off the high­est spot on the podium.

“I am very happy with this result against a world-class rider like Cavendish,” Modolo said. “The entire squad worked to help me set up the sprint. I was in per­fect posi­tion on the wheel of Cavendish. It was a big fight to get on the wheel, but I am opti­mistic after a big result like this against a rider with the class of Cavendish.”

Modolo, 24, has been on a tear of late, win­ning five races since July, includ­ing two stages at the Tour of Denmark ear­lier this month, as well as post­ing seven other top-5 plac­ings in the sprints.

The result bodes well for Modolo, who was among five Italian rid­ers selected to par­tic­i­pate in the test event in London, held on the same cir­cuit Olympic ath­letes will be rac­ing on next summer.

The 140km race started and fin­ished in down­town London on The Mall. An early break­away pulled clear, only to be reeled in by the Great Britain team. Other rid­ers tried late-race attacks, but the sprint­ers con­trolled the pace until the final.

The impres­sive sec­ond place will put Modolo in good stand­ing with Italian coach Paolo Bettini and could lead to a berth in next year’s Olympic Games in London as well as a spot on the world cham­pi­onship squad next month in Copenhagen.

Colnago went first and sec­ond in the morn­ing sec­tor of the fourth stage at the Tour of Denmark, with Sacha Modolo (Colnago-CSF) win­ning a sprint ahead of Jure Kocjan (Team Type 1 - SANOFI).

The bunch roared into Frederikvaer for the finale at the end of the short, 111km morn­ing stage with a sprint fin­ish all but assured. Modolo timed it just right to win ahead of Kocjan, giv­ing Colnago two podium spots in the Danish race.

“We rode all day to try to catch the break­away and only caught it with five kilo­me­ters to go,” said Colnago-CSF sport direc­tor Roberto Reverberi. “Bennati made a strong sprint and Modolo came around him with 50 meters to go. An impres­sive win.”

The vic­tory is the fifth since July for Modolo, who has emerged as one of Italy’s top new young sprinters.

Kocjan said he just missed the chance to claim vic­tory for Team Type 1-SANOFI.

“Normally this kind of stage is very good for me. Sacha has been very strong the last month, but when I am 100 per­cent on a course like this, nobody can beat me,” Kocjan said. “I fol­lowed one rider from another team up the hill, then saw a faster rider pass me, so I jumped on his wheel and passed him at the line.”

The Danish tour con­tin­ues through Sunday.

Colnago-CSF rider Sacha Modolo kicked to vic­tory in the open­ing stage of the Tour of Denmark and grabbed the race leader’s jer­sey as well.

The young Italian sprinter beat back two Danish rid­ers, with world’s runner-up Matti Breschel in sec­ond, to claim the vic­tory in the most impor­tant race held in Scandinavia.

The pack worked together to con­trol a series of late-race attacks to set up the bunch sprint, when Modolo - soon to head to London to race on the Olympic course - kicked his way to his fourth win on the 2011 season.

“We started off the race in the right way and my win is thanks to great effort from my team,” Modolo said after the vic­tory. “Today’s stage was very fast from the gun and we had good rep­re­sen­ta­tion in the lead group in the end to set up the sprint.”

The Danish tour con­tin­ues Thursday with the 189km sec­ond stage from Arhus to Grindsted.

It will be another chance for Modolo to take a shot at win­ning. All four of his vic­to­ries this sea­son have come in the past month. He won two stages at the Tour of Qinhai Lake and a stage at the Brixia Tour, both in July.

Colnago-CSF rider Sacha Modolo is among five rid­ers head­ing to London later this month to rep­re­sent Italy in a test event lead­ing up to the 2012 Olympic Summer Games.

Modolo will join four other national Italian team­mates for the one-day race on August 14 on the same course that will host the elite men’s road race dur­ing next year’s Olympic Games.

The 24-year-old Modolo is part of a project dubbed “Progetto Azzurro” with the Italian cycling fed­er­a­tion to pro­mote up-and-coming Italian cyclists.

“This will have the look of the future,” said Italian national coach Paolo Bettini. “We will have some very young tal­ented rid­ers, like Modolo, as well as expe­ri­enced rid­ers like Luca Paolini. This will give every­one very strong moti­va­tion for the race.”

The test event will allow com­peti­tors and orga­niz­ers alike to have a glimpse of what they will face in the ever-important Olympic road races next summer.

Modolo and the rest of the team will arrive in London on August 12 and inspect the course the next day ahead of the 140km course on the Olympic cir­cuit. The start line is right in the heart of the London on The Mall and takes in some of the city’s and area’s high­lights, includ­ing a pas­sage over Box Hill.

The dis­tance will be the same that the women will race in 2012, while the men will race a dis­tance longer than 200km.

Colnago rider Pierre Rolland expects big­ger things in the future fol­low­ing his suc­cess­ful per­for­mance in the 2011 Tour de France.

The 24-year-Frenchman won the stage up the leg­endary switch­backs at Alpe d’Huez, won the white jer­sey of the best young rider and fin­ished 11th overall.

His impres­sive per­for­mance bol­sters his con­fi­dence look­ing down the road.

“I think I have 10 good years ahead of me,” Rolland said. “I am a rider who works hard, who is ded­i­cated. I am not a born win­ner. I must make the sac­ri­fices to have suc­cess. I will set the high­est goals in the future.”

Rolland’s per­for­mance is con­fir­ma­tion that he is one of the ris­ing tal­ents among the French peloton.

Rolland worked hard to pro­tect the yel­low jer­sey of Europcar team­mate Thomas Voeckler before going on the attack on the Alpe d’Huez to become just the sec­ond French rider to win on the mythic climb.

“Before the Tour, we talked about goals and said that the white jer­sey was a pos­si­bil­ity,” Rolland said. “But what I take out of the Tour is the stage vic­tory. It’s not just any stage, but the Alpe! And to beat Alberto Contador is some­thing that makes it even more spe­cial. He made a few mis­takes because had he attacked only on the Alpe, he would have won.”