The Bretagne Classic-Ouest France 2017, 2nd edition of the new format of the fomer Grand Prix de Plouay, ended - not surprisingly - in a bunch sprint. In this sprint, the Italian rider Elia Viviani of Team Sky showed his supremacy which we already saw the whole week long, after a victory in Hamburg last Sunday and 2 stage wins in a bunch sprint in the Tour du Poitou-Charentes.

The summary of the Bretagne Classic-Ouest France 2017

The race started 8 minutes late for the peloton of the Bretagne Classic-Ouest France, at 11.08AM in Plouay for a race over 239.7 kilometers around Plouay, with two climbs in Mûr-de-Bretagne and a final circuit of 13.9 kilometers (see the Bretagne Classic-Ouest France 2017 race route).

Rapidly after the start, a breakaway with 7 riders was formed by Natnael Berhane (Dimension Data), Delio Fernandez Cruz (Delko Marseille Provence KTM), Arnaud Gérard (Fortuneo-Oscaro), Marco Maronese (Bardiani CSF), Jacopo Mosca (Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia), Pierre Rolland (Cannondale-Drapac) and Oliviero Troia (UAE Team Emirates) and these 7 riders saw their gap growing up to 7 minutes. Different teams, but mainly Team Sunweb and Team Sky, controlled their gap however, in order to prevent the victory in this WorldTour race promissed to sprinters to be taken by a rider from the breakaway.

With still about 70 kilometers to go, Dries Devenyns and Petr Vakoč (Quick-Step Floors) get away from the peloton, joined in this effort by Paul Martens (Team LottoNL-Jumbo), Silvan Dillier (BMC) and Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Sky). At about sixty kilometers from the finish, this chasing group gets back on the early breakaway, while the peloton is also getting dangerously close. While the breakaway first gains some power again thanks to the riders who newly joined the head of the race, the peloton doesn't let go and progressively takes back the riders of this leading group. Devenyns and Dillier try to stay ahead as long as possible but in vain ... just before the first crossing of the finish line their adventure also came to an end.

In the last lap on the local circuit, a new breakaway group gets the lead of the race with 8 riders: Cyril Gautier (AG2R La Mondiale), Alberto Bettiol (Cannondale-Drapac), again Sylvan Dillier (BMC), Nathan Haas (Dimension Data), Hector Carretero (Movistar), Pieter Serry (Quick-Step), Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie) and Julien Simon (Cofidis) and it managed to create a gap of up to 30 seconds on the peloton looking for a bunch sprint. The Sky and BMC teams get to work to get back on this last breakaway group and while Bettiol initially seems to go off for a solo win, the Italian rider is also taken back in the last kilometer and the race was thus indeed decided in a bunch sprint. After his victories in the "Cyclassics Hamburg" last Sunday and in the Tour du Poitou-Charentes this week, Elia Viviani (Team Sky) showed he was again the fastest, beating in the sprint the European Champion, Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) and Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida).

The photos of the Bretagne Classic-Ouest France 2017

The photos of the Bretagne Classic-Ouest France 2017 (formerly known as Grand Prix de Plouay) are available in the dedicated photo album:

>> see the photos of the Bretagne Classic-Ouest France 2017

The classification of the Bretagne Classic-Ouest France

Here's the top 10 of this UCI WorldTour race:

1/ Elia Viviani (Team Sky) - 5h51'39"
2/ Alexander Kristoff (Team Katusha-Alpecin)
3/ Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida Pro Cycling Team)
4/ Sep Vanmarcke (Cannondale-Drapac Professional Cycling Team)
5/ Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb)
6/ Ruben Guerreiro (Trek-Segafredo)
7/ Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data)
8/ Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis, solutions crédits)
9/ Simone Consonni (UAE Team Emirates)
10/ Greg van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team)

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Grand Prix de Plouay

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