The 86th edition of the French one-day race is scheduled this Sunday.
One of the longest Classics of the season, the 255km Bretagne Classic – Ouest-France will once again consist of several different hilly circuits, but the most important of these will be the one around Plouay, the city that hosted the 2000 World Championships. And that’s because the climbs of Rostervel (1500m, 4.4%), Le Lezot (900m, 5.3%) and Kerscoulic (225m, 8.9%) – crammed in the space of just 11 kilometers – will come in quick succession, promising to pulverise the peloton and act as the desired launching pads for those gambling on a late move instead of a reduced sprint.
Andrea Bagioli, Davide Ballerini, Josef Cerny, Tim “El Tractor” Declercq, Mikkel Honoré – third at last year’s edition – Belgium Tour winner Mauro Schmid and Zdenek Stybar, the only Czech rider to have triumphed in a cobbled Classic, are the seven riders making up Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl’s squad for the 28th World Tour event of the season.
“Plouay is never an easy race. You don’t have a single meter of flat roads there, just a lot of climbing and technical roads, and even some gravel sections in the last 80 kilometers. Our team for Sunday is strong and motivated, and that makes us confident we can get again a good result here, just as we did last year”, said sports director Wilfried Peeters.
Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images
Josef Černý 