Classic Lorient Agglomération podium (l-r): second place Marta Lach (Ceratizit-WNT), winner Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx) and third place Sofia Bertizzolo (UAE Team ADQ)(Image credit: Getty Images)
Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx) talks to reporters after her victory(Image credit: Getty Images)
Riders are off for the Classic Lorient Agglomération Trophée Ceratizit 2023(Image credit: Getty Images)
Mischa Bredewold with her SD Worx teammates at the start of Classic Lorient- Agglomération Trophée Ceratizit 2023(Image credit: Getty Images)
Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx) has won the Classic Lorient Agglomération - Trophée Ceratizit in the sprint of a group of about 20 riders after an aggressive final on the finishing circuit around Plouay. Marta Lach (Ceratizit-WNT) was second and Sofia Bertizzolo (UAE Team ADQ) took third.
Susanne Andersen (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team), Karolina Kumięga (UAE Team ADQ), and Franziska Brauße (Ceratizit-WNT) formed the break of the day, though Brauße lost contact with the other two halfway through the hilly parcours.
Andersen and Kumięga were still two minutes ahead with two laps of the 11.7km finishing circuit to go, and Andersen left Kumięga behind to go solo, but the Norwegian champion was caught at the ten-kilometre mark.
Liane Lippert (Movistar) counterattacked immediately and quickly got a 24-second gap but was brought back 4.3km from the finish. None of the last attacks could get away, and in the sprint, Bredewold was the fastest.
"I felt really good today, and we had a super-strong team today, so we were really in control, and then you don’t need to waste too much energy," said Bredewold after her first victory in a Women's WorldTour one-day race.
"The sprint is so chaotic and suits me really well. I just saw an opening, and then I had to go really early, so I'm completely dead, but I'm super happy to take the win today
"I really like this race, but there’s a lot of road furniture and twisting and turning," the 23-year-old Dutchwoman commented on the parcours. "Of course, it's part of the race, but sometimes it was a bit dangerous because there was no protection for the road furniture, so it was a bit scary today. I crashed also, I dove into the gutter, luckily nothing serious, so we managed okay."
How it unfolded
Covering 159.6km in southern Brittany, the race – that was broadcast from start to finish – began with a big loop almost to the Bay of Biscay and back finishing with two-and-a-half laps of the circuit around Plouay.
The three-rider breakaway had a maximum advantage of 6:30 minutes with 88km to go. Brauße was dropped on the steep Mané Brazo climb but managed to come back, but soon after she was dropped again and fell back to the peloton. When the Movistar Team took up the chase, they reduced the gap to Andersen and Kumięga to 2:35 minutes 44km from the finish.
When Movistar stopped to chase in earnest, though, the gap went out again, and when the race entered the finishing circuit with 31.3km to go, the break was still almost three minutes ahead.
Attacks by Jade Wiel (FDJ-Suez), Letizia Borghesi (EF Education-Tibco-SVB), and Cédrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit-WNT) pushed up the pace in the peloton and meant that the two escapees were only two minutes ahead with two laps to go.
Andersen dropped Kumięga on the steepest part of the Rostervel climb but quickly lost time herself as there were more attacks behind her from Pfeiffer Georgi (dsm-firmenich), Mavi García (Liv Racing-TeqFind), Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Human Powered Health), Bredewold, and Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek).
When Andersen was caught on the final Rostervel ascent, Lippert’s counterattack quickly opened a gap, and the German champion looked like the race winner when she was 24 seconds ahead of a group that didn’t work together well.
Juliette Labous (dsm-firmenich), Kerbaol, Georgi, and Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal-QuickStep) all tried to get away from the chase group and eventually closed the gap to Lippert.
On the last four kilometres, Marlen Reusser (SD Worx) attacked on the short Kerscoulic climb but had Élise Chabbey (Canyon-Sram) and Elisa Balsamo on her wheel. Moolman-Pasio made another move that was neutralised by Amber Kraak (Jumbo-Visma), then Reusser went just before the flamme rouge, but Soraya Paladin (Canyon-Sram) closed her down.
Coming from behind, Karlijn Swinkels (Jumbo-Visma) launched a long sprint, opening up a gap for Bredewold to come through. Lach surged to second place, and Bertizzolo took the last podium spot.
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.
