28/08/2022

Wout van Aert wins Bretagne Classic after controlling aggressive race

The Bretagne Classic was a race for the attackers, but Wout van Aert race hard to cover every move, attack on his own, and then managed to beat a sizeable sprint to the line to take a comeback victory after the Tour de France.

Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-KTM), Luke Rowe (INEOS Grenadiers), Yevgeniy Gidich (Lotto Soudal), Chris Hamilton (Team DSM), Martin Urianstad (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) and Johan Meens (Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB) made the day's breakaway in what was an over 250-kilometer day in the saddle.

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The race opened up very early however as expected, with a group of 10 riders attacking from the peloton soon after, making the junction with the front group soon after with 47 kilometers to go. The gap was not over a minute, but with the reduction of available teams to work, it lowered the chances of it being collected.

Tension was high as Jan Tratnik attacked in the first of the final sequence of hilltops in the final 30 kilometers to go, eventually joined by Andrea Piccolo and Samuele Zoccarato. The front group split as Wout van Aert attacked off the peloton, but was caught after a medium-length effort. The peloton recollected before going through the finish line for the penultimate time, and in the final few hilltops things kicked off again.

Pierre Latour launched an attack followed by several of the favourites, but once again the small group saw the peloton come back together. Inside the final five kilometers Wout van Aert, Oliver Naesen and Valentin Madouas had the legs to attack off the front and catch up with Tratnik who had gone solo. Right after however in the final hilltop van Aert was forced to close yet another move as Tratnik had the legs; and inside the final two kilometers he closed a move from Benjamin Thomas.

The riders went into a sprint however. Lotto Soudal led the sprint out for Arnaud De Lie, but in a tight sprint he could not perfectly match Wout van Aert. The Jumbo-Visma took a noteworthy win after headlining the whole finale, beating a surpsising Alexander Kamp and Axel Laurance in the final sprint.