Elia Viviani (Team Sky) continued his fruitful August with a fourth victory in the month, taking the spoils at the WorldTour one-day race, the Bretagne Classic - Ouest France.
The Italian out-sprinted Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) to the win in Plouay, in what had been a race full of attacks.
No breakaway was able to fully establish itself during the race, with a number of moves being brought back.
Eventually Dries Devenyns (Quick-Step Floors), Sylvain Dillier (BMC), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Sky), Arnaud Gérard (Fortuneo-Oscaro), Paul Martens (LottoNL-Jumbo), Jacopo Mosca (Willier Triestina-Selle Italia), Pierre Rolland (Cannondale-Drapac) and Petr Vakoc (QuickStep Floors) got away but failed to establish a gap over a minute.
With that group brought back as those teams not present chased them down, only Dillier and Devenyns remained out front.
They held a gap of just under 20 seconds into the final 20 or so kilometres before Devenyns was unable to maintain the pace.
Cyril Gautier (Ag2r), Albert Bettiol (Cannondale-Drapac), Nathan Haas (Dimension Data), Hector Carretero (Movistar), Pieter Serry (Quick-Step), Lilian Calmejane (Direct Energie) and Julien Simon (Cofidis) were able to bridge across and join Dillier, carrying a decent lead into the final 10km.
Despite a number of solo attacks over the final kilometres of the course and the last climb, the sprinters' teams did the job to pull things back together for their fast men.
In the end, no-one was able to match Viviani's turn of speed as he pushed past Kristoff to take victory on the line, continuing to end his final months with Team Sky in style.
Results
Bretagne Classic - Ouest France 2017 (239.7km)
1 Elia Viviani (Ita) Team Sky, in 5-31-29
2 Alexander Kristoff (Nor) Katusha-Alpecin
3 Sonny Colbrelli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
4 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Cannondale-Drapac
5 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb
6 Rúben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo
7 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data
8 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
9 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
10 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing Team, all same time
-
-
Oakley launches Tour de France 2021 collection
Special limited-edition versions of four frames get French flag-inspired makeover
By Simon Smythe •
-
Who will win the green jersey at the 2021 Tour de France? We rate the contenders
Sam Bennett should be defending the points classification barring injury - but who could challenge him for the title?
By Chris Marshall-Bell •
-
Rohan Dennis to join Jumbo-Visma from Ineos Grenadiers, reports suggest
The Australian joined the British team two years ago but it looks like he is on his way out
By Chris Marshall-Bell •
-
Ineos 'confident' ahead of Tour de France after Carapaz seals team's fifth 2021 stage race win at Tour de Suisse
The British team head to France with a squad containing the winners of this year's Dauphiné, Tour de Suisse and Tour de Romandie
By Tim Bonville-Ginn •
-
Richard Carapaz survives to win the Tour de Suisse overall
Home rider Gino Mäder wins the two-man sprint to win the stage after a spectacular day of racing
By Owen Rogers •
-
The race to the WorldTour - A new team enters the fight for a spot in cycling's top tier
Uno-X join a list of teams potentially looking to break into the WorldTour in the coming years
By Tim Bonville-Ginn •
-
Tom Pidcock back to riding six days after collarbone surgery
The British star was injured when he was knocked off his bike by a driver while training
By Alex Ballinger •
-
Geraint Thomas can be as good as Primož Roglič and Tadej Pogačar, says Ineos sports director
Thomas goes into the 2021 Tour de France as one of the pre-race favourites, alongside the two Slovenians
By Alex Ballinger •
-
Richard Carapaz leads Ineos Grenadiers at Tour de Suisse as team finalises Tour de France squad
The British team is currently deep into preparation for the biggest goal of the season
By Alex Ballinger •
-
Tour de France Femmes included in the 2022 Women’s WorldTour
There’ll be more top level women’s racing in the UK with the Women’s Tour and an expanded Ride London
By Owen Rogers •
