Sunday will see a strong eight-man squad line out for the 247.1km-long World Tour event.
Always an entertaining race, the Bretagne Classic (formerly known as the Grand Prix de Plouay) was created in 1931 and throughout the years has delivered several surprises, as well as some illustrious winners. Held in the heart of French heartland, the race starts and finishes in town of Plouay, which nearly two decades ago hosted the Road World Championships.
Packed with short sharp climbs, which will turn it into a race of attrition, the Bretagne Classic is the 32nd World Tour stop of the season, and the course which it puts on the table is one very much to the liking of attackers and puncheurs, who'll have plenty of chances to make the difference and avoid a bunch gallop at the end of the long and arduous 247 kilometers.
Quick-Step Floors will head into Sunday's race with a robust and experienced squad capable of playing several cards. Philippe Gilbert – who this season rode to victory in two World Tour one-day races, Ronde van Vlaanderen and Amstel Gold Race – will make his seventh outing at the French World Tour event, hoping to showcase the same form as in the BinckBank Tour, where he came very close to winning on the iconic Muur-Kapelmuur.
The team lining up at the start won't be short of options, with Gianluca Brambilla, Laurens De Plus, Dries Devenyns, Pieter Serry, Zdenek Stybar, Petr Vakoč and Julien Vermote all capable of setting the race ablaze and giving Quick-Step Floors several cards to play once it will come down to crunch time.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele
