This .Pro race, ridden over the dirt paths around Lannilis, concludes the series of 4 events raced in Britanny this week since Thursday (Boucles de l’Aulne, Tour du Finistère, Grand-Prix du Morbihan were the first 3).
It is often a fun and eventful race, given the randomness of riding over the non-paved sections; that usually ends in a sprint within a tiny group of riders.
The titleholder Arnaud De Lie shan’t be present, but the rest of last year’s podium shall be: Venturini (🇫🇷 Arkéa) finished 3rd twice this week already, and Gautherat (🇫🇷 Decathlon) takes his season up again with this complicated race, after a short break.
This race, and Le Samyn, are some of the most entertaining races on the calendar. Especially if it’s bad weather!
I am unsure whether I ever watched le Samyn or not…
As French races with non-paved sectors, there are also the GP of Denain, a small Paris–Roubaix a few weeks before Paris–Roubaix (this race saw Küng wipe out the whole favourites group in 2024, in a wonderful bowling strike😂); and the new formula of Paris–Tours, the last race of the cycling year which, in the last third of the route, mixes short climbs (sides of the Loire valley) and stone paths sectors. However, riders/teams complained after the first experiment, so the paths are better refurbished now and it is a bit harder to create gaps significant enough to balance the last 10 km or even miles which are 100% flat. And of course, the shape of those races depends on the weather, as you said.
There were showers on the race in Brittany today, and other showers are forecasted around Lannilis tomorrow. So it probably will be rather wet and muddy.
edit: I read elsewhere that the paths sectors were dry today… Well, we shall see.
It was raining and the paths were muddy and the roads were probably a bit slippery as well (and too narrow for several Uno-X riders, apparently 🤨).
Tronchon (🇫🇷 Decathlon) was super strong today. He attacked from the peloton 70 km away from the goal, caught up alone the breakaway, dropped them one after another, took a wrong path, returned among the breakaway survivors, had a puncture (he had to change his wheel himself) which set him back, perhaps 30 sec. behind the chase group, joined forces with Vauquelin (🇫🇷 Arkéa) who also had a puncture to catch up with the now leading group. While Vauquelin wasn’t anymore able to do anything after he caught up with the group, Tronchon still had it. In the end, Tronchon and his teammate/leader Gautherat (🇫🇷 Decathlon) dropped again the other riders.
In between, only Dvernes (🇳🇴 Uno-X, the terror of small French races) could have been a match. He created a gap of 30 seconds but seems to have fallen on a dirt path, and when he was caught up by the 2 Decathlon riders, he fell again on the pavement in a roundabout. Then he couldn’t keep up with the other 2 riders who would finish 3rd and 4th, Madouas (🇫🇷 FDJ) and Turgis (🇫🇷 Total), but remained 5th nonetheless.
In the last kilometres, the 2 Decathlon finished together, but Gautherat had all the pain in the world to stay in Tronchon’s wheel.
Congratulations to the Burgos rider De la Calle🇪🇸 who finished best among the original breakaway members (14th, nearest place after the best group), despite riding half of the race on a neutral assistance Shimano bike.
Browsing the results, I see that Arnaud Démare was on the race. Strange idea. Well, perhaps if the course had been dry, on a lucky day…
BTW, Decathlon won the last 3 breton races.
On Friday, Sparfel🇫🇷 won the Tour of Finistère (class .1). A rider from the development/Conti team! He just turned 19 a few days earlier. It was a surprise to see him winning a professional race before Seixas. Unfortunately, he fell on a urban part of the route today and abandoned.
On Saturday, on the Tour of Morbihan (class .Pro, should be downgraded to .1 in my opinion but anyway…), it was Cosnefroy🇫🇷.
And today Tronchon🇫🇷.
