Lukáš Kubiš (Unibet Tietema Rockets) secured the victory in a rain-soaked edition of the Cholet Agglo Tour, outsprinting his breakaway companions to take the win on the streets of Cholet.
Kubiš was part of a three-rider breakaway that held off the peloton by a whisker when he launched his sprint inside 300 metres to go to take the win ahead of Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) and Niklas Larsen (BHS-PL Beton Bornholm).
Cholet Agglo Tour offered the peloton a 205km race in and out of Cholet, as part of the Coupe de France. The route included ten categorised ascents across two distinct loops, with the final 50km held on a local loop.
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A six-rider early breakaway emerged that included Andrea Pietrobon (Team Polti-VisitMalta), Vojtěch Kmínek (Burgos Burpellet BH), Iker Mintegi (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Anton Muller (Team Novo Nordisk), Declan Irvine (Team Novo Nordisk) and Simon Bak (Bike Aid).
Total Energies and Cofidis did the bulk of the work setting the pace at the front of the peloton, with contributions from Equipo Kern Pharma, Wagner Bazin WB and Unibet Tietema Rockets, to bring the gap down to 1:45 before they reached the final circuits.
The breakaway was reduced to five and split apart again on the run-in to the circuits with Mintegi and Pietrobon pushing ahead and distancing Kmínek, Irvine and Bak.
But as Mintegi and Pietrobon looked over their shoulder it was clear their time out front had come to and end with the peloton just 10 seconds behind and then making the catch with 40km to go.
Late-race attacks ensued that saw splits in the peloton and a new front three emerged that included Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis), Lukáš Kubiš (Unibet Tietema Rockets) and Niklas Larsen (BHS-PL Beton Bornholm).
Six riders launched a chase; Jordan Labrosse (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Paul Penhoët (Groupama-FDJ), Thomas Gachignard (TotalEnergies), Matyáš Kopecký (Novo Nordisk), Mirco Maestri (Polti VisitMalta) and Emmanuel Morin (Van Rysel Roubaix).
The gaps between the breakaway, the chase group and the field were slim, hovering around 15 seconds as the race hit the last 10km. But a lack of organisation among the chase group meant that they were reeled back in by the field at the start of the last local circuit.
Thomas, Kubiš and Larsen still had their 15 second gap in hand as they raced under the flamme rouge with Larsen launching a late move before being caught by his companions at 600 metres to go.
The three riders positioned themselves for the sprint to the line, knowing that they had done enough to stay away. Kubiš was the next to sprint at 300 metres to go and he had enough left in the tank to hold his sprint and take the victory ahead of the other two.
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