The Italian got involved in the sprint and notched up his 15th top 10 of the season.
A regular fixture on the World Tour calendar, the Bretagne Classic Ouest-France awaited the riders with a new parcours, viewed by many as being much tougher than the one of previous years and with the potential of making things explosive. The race met the expectations, as it had attacks galore from kilometer zero and unfolded in a spectacular way until the very end, when the win went to Oliver Naesen (IAM Cycling), who outsprinted Alberto Bettiol (Cannondale-Drapac), after the two escaped on one of the route's testing climbs.
The peloton, a severely reduced one, came to the finish in Plouay five seconds later, and Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) was the one to win the sprint for third place. 27-year-old Matteo Trentin was also there for Etixx – Quick-Step and finished in 9th, same result he got one week ago, in the Cyclassics Hamburg, where he took over sprinting duties from Marcel Kittel, after the German punctured inside the last kilometer.
"It was a fast, eventful and thrilling race. I was at all times in the thick of the action, the team did a good job, but unfortunately I missed some luck in the finale. Ninth is a good result, which comes as confirmation of my strong condition and makes me look with confidence to my next races, Parix-Brussels and Fourmies", said Matteo Trentin, a stage winner at both the Giro d'Italia and Tour de Wallonie this year.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele
