Brand secures win at GP de Plouay-Bretagne

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With Lizzie Armitstead (Boels-Dolmans) having tied up the Road World Cup victory at last week's Crescent Vårgårda, the last round of the series was all about a final attempt at glory, as the peloton faced the tough, hilly course.

The GP Plouay is always a dramatic finish to the World Cup series, with a course that changes regularly, but always includes short, punchy climbs and descents that are perfect for attacks. This year it was 121.5km, four laps of 27km with three climbs each, then a last loop missing out the northern part but keeping the two steepest climbs, including the Côte de Ty-Marrec 4km from the end.

All eyes were on Rabobank-Liv, as Marianne Vos had won here in 2012 and 2013, and been a major factor in her teammate Annemiek van Vleuten's win in 2011 – but the Dutch team blew these expectations out of the water. The question had been who they'd ride for, and they answered this with an all Rabo podium, Lucinda Brand winning solo ahead of Vos and Ferrand-Prévot, Van der Breggen coming fifth.

Brand had been especially active in this race, fighting with and against Tiffany Cromwell (Specialized-lululemon) forcing breaks and splits, so that by the last 35km there were just 20 riders in front. This was whittled down to an elite group of champions, with Rabo always over-represented, four in a group of ten, then, when Brand and Cromwell seemed like they’d been finally dropped in the last 7km, three in a group of seven – Vos, Van der Breggen and Ferrand-Prévot against Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS), Elisa Longo Borghini (Hitec Products), Armitstead, Rossella Ratto (Estado de Mexico-Faren) and World Cup Queen of the Mountains Alena Amialiusik (Astana-BePink).

But Brand and Cromwell would not give up, and when the pair caught that front group one last time, Brand didn't pause to draw breath, but attacked again, this time getting clear, with her lead quickly getting up to 48 seconds.

This was the point the race was lost for the others, as fear of exhausting themselves to help the Rabo's attack later, or just plain exhaustion meant the chase wasn't coordinated. Although Brand suffered and lost time on the final climb, she made it to the finish solo for the biggest win of her career. This has been a spectacular 2014 for the 25-year-old Dutchwoman, supporting her team-mates throughout the year, and in return having team support to win her first stage race, the Energiewacht Tour in April, and now her first World Cup.

Armitstead, Longo Borghini and Johansson all attacked out of the chase to try to catch Brand, or slip away for the podium, but the group came to the finish together, Vos out-sprinting the opposition as only she can, with Ferrand-Prévot on her wheel – the perfect finish to the World Cup for the team that has consistently animated the races.
 

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