Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) won the Classic Lorient Agglomération for the third time in a row. In the sprint of a reduced peloton after an attritional finishing circuit, the 25-year-old held off Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Eline Jansen (VolkerWessels) to take the victory.
From an early breakaway, Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek) and Sabrina Stultiens (VolkerWessels) survived onto the final lap, where they were caught by Femke De Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike), Eleonora Gasparrini (UAE Team ADQ), and Franzi Koch (Picnic PostNL).
Brand and Stultiens could not follow these three on the Côte du Lézot, where Liane Lippert (Movistar) attacked from the peloton, taking Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) with her and bridging to the front trio, with Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) just missing the move.
However, things came back together after the last climb, the short Bosse de Kerscoulic, and after a few unsuccessful attacks, 21 riders entered the final kilometre together. Bredewold launched her sprint early and was passed by Vos for a time but fought back to win.
“Today I was riding with my grandma in my head because we got some bad news this week, and I really wanted to get this win for her today,” an emotional Bredewold dedicated her victory to her grandmother.
The Dutchwoman had crashed during the race, just before entering the finishing circuit, but came back to win.
“I think it’s lucky for me to crash here. Two years ago, I also crashed and won. I felt really good today, and the girls kept believing in me even though I crashed, and that gave me wings. I know how to do this finish really well, so I know how to time it. But Marianne came, she was in front of me for quite some time. I thought ‘I need to keep going’ because I know I’m good in long sprints, and I could just pass her again, that was crazy,” Bredewold recounted the sprint.
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Reduced peloton sprints to the finish line (Image credit: Getty Images)
How it unfolded
The 165.3km race started with a big loop through the hilly countryside around Plouay that was slightly changed from the 2024 edition before entering the finishing circuit with 31.5km to go. Crossing the finish line for the first time 23.6km from the end, the peloton faced 2.5 laps of the circuit, including two ascents of the gradual Rostervel climb and three ascents each of the steep Côte du Lézot and the short Bosse de Kerscoulic.
On the first 60km, several groups came together to form a large breakaway of 23 riders that included Blanka Vas, Steffi Häberlin (both SD Worx-Protime), Nina Buijsman, Coralie Demay (both FDJ-Suez), Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ), Brand, Anastasiya Kolesava (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), Eva van Agt, Margaux Vigié (both Visma-Lease a Bike), Evy Kuijpers (Fenix-Deceuninck), Alex Manly, Julia Borgström (both AG Insurance-Soudal), Susanne Andersen (Uno-X Mobility), Silke Smulders, Jeanne Korevaar (both Liv AlUla Jayco), Henrietta Christie, Magdeleine Vallieres Mill (both EF Education-Oatly), Silvia Zanardi (Human Powered Health), Célia Le Mouel (Ceratizit), Franzi Koch, Nelson (both Picnic PostNL), Yuliia Biriukova (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi), and Stultiens.
Alex Manly (AG Insurance-Soudal) at the front of the early breakaway (Image credit: Getty Images)
Their advantage went up to three minutes, but the cooperation in this large group wasn’t ideal, and only Brand, Nelson, and Stultiens were left when the broadcast began with 62km to go, just over a minute ahead of the peloton.
Several riders crashed on the wet roads, and Bredewold herself was involved in a crash just before the race reached the finishing circuit and was making her way back to the peloton while Nelson could not keep up with Brand and Stultiens the first time up the Côte du Lézot with 28.5km to go.
Bredewold had come back to the peloton before passing the finish line with two laps or 23.6km to go. Brand and Stultiens were still 1:06 minutes ahead, but Nelson was caught early on the penultimate lap.
UAE Team ADQ and Liv AlUla Jayco led the chase, but it was De Vries who attacked first on the Côte du Lézot. Longo Borghini, Lippert, Koch, and Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health) went after her, but things came back together for a chasing group of 21 riders atop the Kerscoulic climb.
After a brief attempt by Kerbaol, De Vries attacked again with 14.5km to go, quickly getting a gap. Koch and Gasparrini bridged to her, and a moment of hesitation in the chase group allowed them to pull away as a group of dropped riders return from behind.
Entering the final lap, Brand and Stultiens were 15 seconds ahead of De Vries, Gasparrini, and Koch, with the peloton chasing at 40 seconds. Brand dropped Stultiens on the Rostervel climb but was herself caught by the chasers who had picked up Stultiens, forming a front group of five.
Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek) pushes the pace in the breakaway with Sabrina Stultiens (VolkerWessels) on her wheel (Image credit: Getty Images)
With SD Worx-Protime chasing hard, the gap went down to only 13 seconds at the foot of the Côte du Lézot where Koch attacked into the climb. Stultiens and Brand were quickly dropped, but De Vries and Gasparrini could follow the German champion, and in the peloton, Lippert made her move.
Ferrand-Prévot and Vos were immediately on her wheel, but Vos had to let go, so only Lippert and Ferrand-Prévot made it across to the front three while Longo Borghini was now trying to bridge on her own.
Gasparrini launched an attack on the Bosse de Kerscoulic but could not get away, and at the top of the short climb, Georgi had passed Longo Borghini and brought a larger group to the front.
Juliette Labous (FDJ-Suez) tried to get away inside the 3km mark but had no success. Koch then attacked from the front of the group but also got no gap. Lippert’s counterattack and Longo Borghini’s move just after the 2km mark were unsuccessful too, and De Vries then took over at the front, keeping a high pace onto the finishing straight where Bredewold launched early, lost the lead to Vos, but came back to win.
All-Dutch podium for Classic Lorient Agglomération (l-r): second place Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), winner Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime) and third place Eline Jansen (VolkerWessels) (Image credit: Getty Images)
Lukas Knöfler started working in cycling communications in 2013 and has seen the inside of the scene from many angles. Having worked as press officer for teams and races and written for several online and print publications, he has been Cyclingnews’ Women’s WorldTour correspondent since 2018.
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