Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) used a late acceleration on the downhill finish into Plouay to win the Bretagne Classic-Ouest France.
Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) took second a few bike lengths back, with Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) going third ahead 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 final downhill approach back into Plouay for the finish. Tiesj Benoot (Visma-Lease a Bike) initially led the 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 rush from behind for his second one-day race win in two weeks, last winning Donostia San Sebastian.
How it unfolded
A 259.8km course delivered its usual challenging course with 4,250 metres of elevation gain centered around Plouay in Brittany. The peloton will finish on the Plouay circuit with the Rostervel climb followed by the legendary Lezot hill, the last obstacle with 4.5km to the finish.
Across the opening 20km, Christopher Juul-Jensen (Jayco AlUla) and Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck) joined forces for a long-range attack. The duo cranked out a lead of over 9 minutes as they covered the first half of the lumpy course.
It wasn’t until the smaller hills took over with under 80km to go that the peloton, driven by Lidl-Trek and UAE Team Emirates, had the time down to 3 minutes. The first trio of categorised climbs, Saint-Herbot, Col de Toullaeron and Ty Coz, had the sharpest inclines, and then this final stretch of the race offered an unrelenting series of 11 smaller climbs.
On the approach to the sixth climb, Kergoat (1.5km at 5%), the lead duo had 2:56 in hand. Behind riders started to drop from the peloton as did rain drops. Close to the next climb at Locmarie with under 70km to go, 10 riders crashed in the peloton, including Bauke Mollema (Lidl-Trek), Tobias Foss (Ineos Grenadiers) and Groupama-FDJ duo Samuel Watson and Romain Grégoire.
Once across Locmaria (1.5km at 3.8%), the charge by Juul-Jensen and Dillier came to an end. The pace of the peloton spread riders into a long line, and multiple attacks became the name of the game, with Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) seeing some space at the front with 59km to go.
With the final 40km underway, it was time for a reset with the peloton, and more attacks. Grégoire had not only recovered from his crash, but he attacked at the front with 27km to go. A few tried to counter, but could not catch his back wheel, and the Groupama-FDJ rider got about 15 seconds.
Lidl-Trek came to the front with 20km to go and had Grégoire in their sights. Once all back together, Visma-Lease a Bike, Soudal-QuickStep and Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale sent riders to the front.
Once a small group of riders distanced the peloton on the final uphill at Lezot, Hirschi ignited to another gear to moved to the front and take the win.
Results
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