Preview, favourites, profile, route and predictions Bretagne Classic 2025 - Can UAE superteam take the win?

On the 31st of August the World Tour peloton resumes it's one-day race calendar with the Bretagne Classic. The cycling-crazy region always has a strong audience, and in the hilly terrain we often have a very open race with a lot of spectacle. We preview the race and take a look at the favourites, as well as it's profile and route.

The race will be 262 kilometers long and feature 3800 meters of climbing. There is at no point in the race a long ascent and all of this is the result of short spikes on the profile. They will be a constant, and a winning move could come at any time during the day - however, the route is less difficult in the finale this year, so likely we'll have more explosive but more late attacks this time around

The most important sections of the race will come in the final kilometers with a 1-kilometer ascent at 7.8% (27Km to go); 1.5Km at 4.35 (19Km to go) and lastly the Côte de Lezot which is only 700 meters long at 5% but comes after 260 kilometers of racing almost, only 4.5Km away from the finish.

The race can end in a small group sprint or a solo attack. Attacks can be decisive both in the climbs or inbetween, since the ascents are not so difficult gaps created on the flat roads or descents can then be sustained later on. They are also not very steep or long so lots of different types of riders can succeed in such terrain.

Small chances of rain on the day which could make the race more tricky. What is not avoidable is the strong win that will affect the riders. It will come from the southwest - although the riders are constantly changing direction throughout the day and the finale included.

UAE - UAE's team is insanely strong, but they again don't have a brutal race where they can take advantage of it. But Bretagne is hard enough to put them to use. Jhonatan Narváez as a pure puncheur and also very strong in a sprint can win this race in any scenario, but the team has many weapons to attack hard. Tim Wellens, Jan Christen, Brandon McNulty and Isaac del Toro can all also non-ironically win this race, they have the quality and the form too.

The likes of Thibau Nys, Axel Laurance, Laurence Pithie, Julian Alaphilippe and Romain Grégoire are very explosive on their best day and could take a win here, both from a solo move or a small group in front.

Paul Lapeira, Tiesj Benoot, Nicolas Prodhomme, Pello Bilbao, Matej Mohoric, Tobias Johannessen, Jasper Stuyven, Tibor del Grosso, Mauro Schmid, Aurélien Paret-Peintre, Maxim van Gils, Clément Champoussin, Alex Aranburu and Marc Hirschi are all riders to consider as well.

We could have a sprint decide the race, but how likely is it? Quite possible, but at the same time, potentially not the sprinters you'd initially have in mind. You have men like Arnaud de Lie and Paul Magnier who are on stellar form and should be able to survive and even be part of attacks, but for them the question is whether the peloton can control the attacks and deliver them to a winning position.

Olav Kooij and Biniam Girmay are two riders that on their best day can absolutely win this race too but will depend on a sprint finish. Tobias Lund Andresen, Dorian Godon, Michael Matthews, Riley Sheehan and Arctic Race of Norway winner Corbin Strong would all enjoy this scenario too certainly.

*** Jhonatan Narváez, Arnaud de Lie, Paul Magnier
** Tim Wellens, Jan Christen, Romain Grégoire
* Brandon McNulty, Isaac del Toro, Tiesj Benoot, Tobias Johannessen, Jasper Stuyven, Thibau Nys, Tibor del Grosso, Axel Laurance, Maxim van Gils, Julian Alaphilippe, Biniam Girmay, Corbin Strong, Dorian Godon, Riley Sheehan, Olav Kooij, Michael Matthews

Pick: Arnaud de Lie

How: Reduced group sprint.