Marc Brustenga sealed his first-ever professional victory in the Classic Velox Adélie de Vitré, following a challenging sprint finale which initially saw Pierre Gautherat take victory for Decathlon-CMA CGM.
It would have been Gautherat's second in four days after his win at Paris-Camembert on Tuesday, but he was later relegated for a deviation that squeezed both Brustenga and Louis Hardouin (Van Rysel Roubaix) toward the barriers.
Iúri Leitão (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), who wasn't involved in the incident, initially came through in third position but was moved to second place following Gautherat's disqualification, and the consistently impressive Hardouin scored his sixth top-10 finish of the season, rewarded with a visit to the podium in third.
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How it happened
The fourth round of the former Coupe de France, rebranded the FDJ United Series for 2026, the Classic Velox Adélie de Vitré is a tough, attritional one-day race that often favours sprinters. It traditionally sees open, attacking racing with a reduced bunch normally arriving at the finish, rather than a mass sprint finale.
The 30th anniversary edition of the race began and finished in Vitré in Brittany, and featured 12 circuits of a loop around the town. The day offered rather damp conditions for the battle ahead.
A four-man breakaway group headed clear early in the race, consisting of three riders from ProTeams: Axel van der Tuuk (Euskatel-Euskadi), Javier Ibáñez (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA), Quinten de Graeve (Team Novo Nordisk), and one continental team rider, Victor Jean of Elite Fondations Cycling Team, who were making their debut at the race.
They achieved a maximum gap of around three minutes, which began to be reeled in as the race headed toward its conclusion.
Team TotalEnergies were the key driving force in the peloton, riding for Emilien Jeannière, but with Cofidis and Groupama-FDJ United adding their weight to the chase. The gap to the leaders dropped below a minute with just over 40 kilometres remaining.
Alexander Konijn (Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur) attacked from the group just after that, and as the chasing peloton crossed the finish line with four laps to go, more attacks were unleashed, with the bunch disintegrating for a while. They regrouped as the road rose once more, with the gap to the breakaway still hovering around a minute. It spelled an end to the calm though as the race moved into the critical period.
Another wave of attacks broke out with three laps to go, and the breakaway's advantage plummeted under the sustained pressure from the chasers. Jean took the initiative, attacking from the lead group and only Van der Tuuk was able to stay with him.
He attacked Jean with 13 kilometres remaining, with the peloton hovering around 20 seconds behind as they headed toward the final lap of the circuit. He dangled solo out front until 7km to go, when Gorka Sororrain (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) attacked and bridged across to Van der Tuuk but despite forming a duo, it was too little too late.
The pair were swept up by an intact bunch with 5.4km remaining, and for the first time in a number of years at the race the finish looked set to come down to a bunch sprint.
Decathlon-CMA CGM led the charge into the final kilometre, and positioned Gautherat perfectly with a couple of tricky corners to contend with. A number of riders were caught out, including two from Unibet Rose Rockets, who came down on a corner.
Gautherat opened his sprint with 300m to go, and it was that long drag to the line that saw the deviation as he drifted to the right-hand side of the road, impeding the progress of Brustenga and Hardouin.
The celebrations were cut short for Gautherat and Decathlon following the news of the relegation, and Equipo Kern Pharma instead will be jubilant as they celebrate their first win of the 2026 season.
The favourites for the day including Jeannière, Clément Venturini (Unibet Rose Rockets) and Paul Penhoët (Groupama-FDJ United) were caught out of position in the end.
Results
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