Classic Lorient Agglomération: Elisa Balsamo overtakes three-time winner Mischa Bredewold to triumph in Plouay

Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) won the Classic Lorient Agglomération - Ceratizit in the sprint of a reduced peloton, passing Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) on the final metres to take the victory. Franziska Koch (FDJ United-Suez) completed the podium with third place.

After an early breakaway was reeled in on the finishing circuit around Plouay, there were numerous attacks on the last two laps. Maëva Squiban (UAE Team L'Imad) got away with 12.5km to go and began the Côte de Ty Marrec 15 seconds ahead of the peloton but was passed on the climb when Célia Gery (FDJ United-Suez) and Eleonora Gasparrini (UAE Team L'Imad) attacked.

Gery and Gasparrini were only a few seconds ahead, though, and when they were caught with 3.6km to go, the race was bound for a sprint finish. Bredewold tried to anticipate by using the downhill into the finishing straight to get up to speed and launch a long sprint, but Balsamo went into Bredewold's slipstream, pulled alongside on the last 100 metres, and just pipped Bredewold to the line.

“I need to say a big, big thank you to my team. They did an amazing job. When I saw that I could survive the last climb, we went all in for the sprint. I’m super happy,” Balsamo thanked her teammates for setting up her victory.

“On the last climb I was just watching the wheel in front of me because it was so hard. But I was still in the first group, and I fully trusted my teammates. I knew they could close everything,” she looked back on the final time up the Côte de Ty Marrec.

Bredewold, winner of the previous three editions, tried to go long in the sprint, but Balsamo just managed to pass her.

“She started a really long sprint on the left and I was on the right, but I know this is a super hard finish, so I kept believing until the end because I know it’s super hard, especially the last 50 metres,” said Balsamo.

How it unfolded

Starting and finishing in Plouay, the 172.6km race consisted of a long 104km loop to the south and east before returning to Plouay in order to climb the Bosse du Lézot out of the town and do another 25km loop including the Côte de Marta Kerhoat. The race entered the finishing circuit with 41.6km to go and would do 2.5 laps, with a total of three ascents of the Côte de Ty Marrec and another two climbs of Lézot.

In the first hour of racing Sara Martín (Movistar) initiated a breakaway that also included Cristina Tonetti (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), Alison Jackson (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93), and Natalie Quinn (Mayenne-Monbana-MyPie), though Jackson soon dropped back after a mechanical.

Instead, Anna Henderson (Lidl-Trek), Anouska Koster (Uno-X Mobility), Sophie von Berswordt-Wallrabe (VolkerWessels), and Clémence Latimier (Ma Petite Entreprise) bridged to the front to make it a break of seven, and they increased their advantage to seven minutes.

When the live broadcast began with 65km to go, the gap was down to 3:30, and Von Berswordt-Wallrabe had lost contact with the other escapees on the Bosse du Lézot. Latimier crashed on a downhill 180-degree turn with 58km to go. She could rejoin the break, but a few minutes later, there was a big crash in the peloton in the same turn that took down pre-race favourite Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal), Marte Berg Edseth (Uno-X Mobility), and Mikayla Harvey (SD Worx-Protime), all of whom eventually had to abandon the race.

Tonetti was dropped from the break on the Côte de Marta Kerhoat, and in the peloton there were attacks from Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM), Nina Berton (EF Education-Oatly), Fleur Moors (Lidl-Trek), and Gery, though none of them could get away.

Entering the finishing circuit at Pont Neuf with 41.6km to go, the peloton was two minutes behind. Passing the finish line with 32.2km to go to enter the penultimate lap, this had been reduced to 50 seconds, mainly by EF Education-Oatly.

In the breakaway, Martín attacked in the lead-up to the Bosse du Lézot and was followed by Henderson, while Quinn then left Koster and Latimier behind on the climb in an attempt to bridge to the front duo, but all five escapees came back together after the climb.

In the peloton, Niedermaier attacked over the top of the climb but was quickly caught again. Daniek Hengeveld (Visma-Lease a Bike) then got away on the plateau and went off to chase down the breakaway, finally bridging the 40-second gap with 22.5km to go, at the foot of the Côte de Ty Marrec, and immediately going to the front of the group.

Koster could not follow the pace on the climb and dropped back to the peloton where Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) had attacked, followed by Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek), Gery, Gasparrini, and Sarah Van Dam (Visma-Lease a Bike). They reached the front group on the small roads after the climb but were caught again just after the 20km mark, prompting a counterattack from Koch, who was reeled in with 18km to go at the bottom of the short climb through Kerdalvé.

Despite attacks from Loes Adegeest (Lidl-Trek), and world champion Magdeleine Vallières (EF Education-Oatly) on this climb, a peloton of more than 50 riders entered the final lap together. Mavi García (UAE Team L’Imad) attacked with 15km to go, before the Bosse du Lézot, but Vallières went after her, closed the gap, and then led the race up the climb to set up an attack by Kerbaol over the top.

Koch reeled in Kerbaol, and after an unsuccessful attack by García, Squiban got away with 12.5km to go, quickly opening a gap. Sara Casasola (Fenix-Premier Tech), Rosita Reijnhout (Visma-Lease a Bike), Célia Le Mouël (Ma Petite Entreprise), Gery, Vallières, Letizia Borghesi (AG Insurance-Soudal), and Ingvild Gåskjenn (Uno-X Mobility) briefly formed a chase group but were soon back in the peloton.

Francesca Barale (Movistar), Lucie Fityus (Picnic PostNL), and Katharina Sadnik (Visma-Lease a Bike) all tried to get away, but it was Nadia Gontova (Liv AlUla Jayco) who succeeded just before the turn onto the wide road up the Côte de Ty Marrec.

Going into the climb, Squiban was 19 seconds ahead of the peloton, with Gontova having a three-second gap on the bunch. Vallières set the pace on the first half of the climb, catching Gontova, but then Gery attacked. The French champion quickly reached Squiban, who helped Gasparrini jump across before swinging off.

Gery and Gasparrini were seven seconds ahead at the 5km mark atop the climb, but Lidl-Trek quickly organised the chase and caught them with 3.6km to go. Vallières launched a final attack into the Kerdalvé climb but was neutralised by Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Niedermaier, and 34 riders entered the final kilometre together.

Bredewold launched her sprint just after the 500m mark, accelerating along the barriers on the left-hand side while Balsamo was being led out on the right side. Bredewold was several bike lengths ahead at the 200m mark, but Balsamo had now found her wheel, pulled alongside on the last 100 metres and could beat Bredewold to the line while Koch beat Gasparrini to third place.

Results

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