Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) used a late acceleration on the downhill end into Plouay and gained Bretagne Classic-Ouest France.
Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) took second a number of bike lengths again, with Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) going third forward of Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny) and Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek).
Charging up a small rise of 500 metres on the Lezot hill with 5km to go, a small group of riders went clear for the ultimate downhill strategy again into Plouay for the end. Tiesj Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike) initially led the best way with Hirschi, Ilan van Wilder (Soudal-QuickStep) and Lotto Dstny duo Maxim Van Gils and De Lie.
With 3.5km to go, Hirschi surged clear from the small pack and held off the frenzy from behind for his second one-day race win in two weeks, final successful Donostia San Sebastian.
How it unfolded
A 259.8km course delivered its standard difficult course with 4,250 metres of elevation acquire centered round Plouay in Brittany. The peloton will end on the Plouay circuit with the Rostervel climb adopted by the legendary Lezot hill, the final impediment with 4.5km to the end.
Across the opening 20km, Christopher Juul-Jensen (Jayco AlUla) and Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck) joined forces for a long-range assault. The duo cranked out a lead of over 9 minutes as they coated the primary half of the lumpy course.
It wasn’t till the smaller hills took over with underneath 80km to go that the peloton, pushed by Lidl-Trek and UAE Team Emirates, had the time down to three minutes. The first trio of categorised climbs, Saint-Herbot, Col de Toullaeron and Ty Coz, had the sharpest inclines, after which this last stretch of the race supplied an unrelenting sequence of 11 smaller climbs.
On the strategy to the sixth climb, Kergoat (1.5km at 5%), the lead duo had 2:56 in hand. Behind riders began to drop from the peloton as did rain drops. Close to the subsequent climb at Locmarie with underneath 70km to go, 10 riders crashed within the peloton, together with Bauke Mollema (Lidl-Trek), Tobias Foss (Ineos Grenadiers) and Groupama-FDJ duo Samuel Watson and Romain Grégoire.
Once throughout Locmaria (1.5km at 3.8%), the cost by Juul-Jensen and Dillier got here to an finish. The tempo of the peloton unfold riders into an extended line, and a number of assaults grew to become the secret, with Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) seeing some area on the entrance with 59km to go.
With the ultimate 40km underway, it was time for a reset with the peloton, and extra assaults. Grégoire had not solely recovered from his crash, however he attacked on the entrance with 27km to go. A number of tried to counter, however couldn’t catch his again wheel, and the Groupama-FDJ rider obtained about 15 seconds.
Lidl-Trek got here to the entrance with 20km to go and had Grégoire of their sights. Once all again collectively, Visma-Lease a Bike, Soudal-QuickStep and Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale despatched riders to the entrance.
Once a small group of riders distanced the peloton on the ultimate uphill at Lezot, Hirschi ignited to a different gear to moved to the entrance and take the win.
Results
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