Tim De Troyer (Wanty) took the first victory of his short career when he emerged as a surprise winner of the hilly French one-day race Tour du Finistere. The Belgian joined a strong 8-rider front group with less than 1km to go in a very uncontrollable finale and managed to escape to take a solo win before his teammate Jerome Baugnies (Wanty) beat Julien Simon (Cofidis) in the sprint for second.

 

In the first part of his career, Tim De Troyer has become known for his many tireless attacks. His aggressive behavior has made him a recognizable figure in the peloton and allowed him to win minor competitions in stage races.

 

The first win has always eluded the Belgian attacker but today everything came together when he won the Tour du Finistere with a late solo attack. Moments later his teammate Jerome Baugnie won the sprint for second from a small chase group to make it a memorable day for Wanty-Groupe Gobert.

 

The Breton race is known as one of the hardest races in the Coupe de France and was made even tougher by rainy and windy conditions. The combination of bad weather and constant climbing turned it into an elimination race where riders constantly got dropped until only 30-40 riders remained.

 

This left most teams without the strength to control the race and opened the door for an aggressive finale. It was Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) who laid the foundations when he escaped from a 12-rider front group with more than 20km to go.

 

The Frenchman worked hard to maintain a small advantage while his 11 chasers were caught by the peloton that was led by Bretagne. As the gap came down, it was possible to bridge the gap and several riders managed to make it across.

 

Clement Saint-Martin (Marseille) was the first to make the junction and later Julien Guay (Auber), Baugnies and Alexandre Geniez (FDJ) followed suit. Jeremy Roy (FDJ), Julien Antomarchi (Roubaix) and Julien Duval (Armee) made it just before the flamme rouge and it seemed that the 8-rider front group would decide the race.

 

However, De Troyer joined forces with Pierrick Fedrigo (Bretagne), Julien Simon (FDJ), Remy Di Gregorio (Marseille), Cesar Bihel (Auber), Alexandre Pichot (Europcar), Ignatas Konovalovas (Marseille), Jonathan Hivert (Bretagne), Frederik Backaert (Wanty), Maxime Renault (Roubaix) and Julien Simon (Cofidis) on the final climb and with less than 1km to go, they joined the leaders. The young Belgian went straight on the attack and as no one reacted, he managed to get clear before crossing the line for a solo win. 9 seconds later Baugnies beat Simon in the sprint for second.

 

Pierrick Fedrigo could only manage 14th but it was enough for the Frenchman to take the lead in the Coupe de France race series. He will try to defend his position tomorrow in Tro-Bro Leon which is known as the Breton Paris-Roubaix due to its many sections of gravel roads.

 

A hilly course

The 30th Tour du Finistere was held on a 189.2km course that brought the rider from Saint-Evarzec to Quimper. The course was very hilly and included 6 categorized climbs before the riders crossed the finish line for the first time after 154.4km of racing. In the end, the riders did four laps of a hilly 8.7km finishing circuit that included two small climbs. With 1250m to go, the riders hit a small 500m section with a gradient of 12.5% before the road flattened for the final 750m.

 

It was a rainy and windy day in Bretagne when the 103 riders gathered for the start in Saint-Evarzec. Nonetheless, they got the race of to a very fast and animated start and it was Cofidis who tried to keep the situation under control.

 

The break takes off

The French team went on the offensive when they sent Loic Chetout on the attack with Grischa Janorschke (Vorarlberg). The duo stayed clear for a while but after 14km of racing, it was back together.

 

This was the signal for Alexandre Geniez (FDJ) to try his hand but the Frenchman had not luck either. Instead, Matthieu Boulo (Bretagne), Julien El Fares (Marseille), Nicolas Baldo (Vorarlberg) and Yoann Barbas (Armee) took off and they fought hard to build a bigger advantage.

 

The gap grows

At the 21km mark, the gap was 15 seconds and the peloton still hadn’t surrendered. The fast pace was too much for sprinters Baptiste Planckaert and Timothy Dupont (Roubaix) who both left the race.

 

The peloton finally slowed down and at the 28km mark, the four leaders were 2.25 ahead. 10km later, they had increased their advantage to 4.30 and now the rain was no longer falling as heavily.

 

Wallonie and Europcar start to chase

Wallonie and Europcar started to chase and they brought the gap down to 3.00 where they kept it stable for a while. The rain has now stopped and the riders were on dry roads when they reached the highest point of the race after 71km of racing at a time when the gap was 2.35.

 

The peloton again slowed down and allowed the gap to grow to 3.15 before Wallonie again accelerated. With Gregory Habeaux doing most of the work, they kept the gap between 2.30 and 3.00 for a while.

 

The peloton splits to pieces

On the Cote de Laz which was located with around 70km to go, riders started to get dropped from the peloton, with Rudy Kowalski (Roubaix), Boris Dron (Wanty), Thomas Wertz (Wallonie) and Volodymyr Fredyuk (Amore & Vita) being among the riders to lose contact. This was the signal for the peloton to accelerate and as they sped along over the twisting, narrow, hilly roads, the bunch broke into several parts.

 

The fast pace brought the gap down very quickly and at the 30km mark, the first peloton of 23 riders was just 15 seconds behind the front quartet. Meanwhile, Frederique Robert (Wanty), Benoit Sinner (Armee) and one of the pre-race favourites Samuel Dumoulin (Ag2r) left the race.

 

Delfosse bridges the gap

The 23-rider group joined the leaders at a point when the main group had been distanced by 40 seconds. Defending champion Antoinie Demoitie (Wallonie) was one of the riders who had made it into the lead group that worked hard to maintain their advantage.

 

The gap dropped to 18 seconds before the escapees again gained a bit of ground. Meanwhile, a chase group took off and they managed to bridge the gap, bringing Sebastien Delfosse (Wallonie) back to the front of the race and increasing the size of the group to 38 riders.

 

Combaud takes off

With 42km to go, the gap was still 30 seconds but as there was no cooperation in the lead group, the peloton again got closer. Meanwhile, the attacking started and it was Romain Combaud (Armee) who made the first successful move.

 

Combaud was joined by his teammate Quentin Pacher while Chetout took off in pursuit. Meanwhile, the chase group splintered to pieces and the rain again stopped. However, the Ag2r rider never made the junction and instead it was Vincent Jerome (Europcar) who joined the leaders.

 

A 12-rider group is formed

Delfosse, Gougeard, Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), Julien Guay (Auber), Theo Vimpere (Auber), Julien Antomarchi (Roubaix), Remy Di Gregorio (Marseille) and Kevin Lebreton (Armee) managed to bridge the gap to make it a 12-rider front group that was 15 seconds ahead of 20 chasers with 26km to go. However, there was no cooperation and it was Voeckler who escaped in a solo move. Antomarchi was his nearest chaser, followed by Chetout and the rest of the group.

 

In the peloton, Bretagne were chasing but with 20km to go, they were still 50 seconds behind Voeckler. At this point, the chase group was back together but they were trailing the lone Frenchman by 26 seconds.

 

Fedrigo works hard

Pierrick Fedrigo (Bretagne) was working hard in the peloton and with 18km to go, they had caught the chasers. The fast pace meant that riders were getting dropped and Combaud, Guillaume Levarlet (Auber) and Matthieu Ladagnous (FDJ) were among the ones to get distanced while Thomas Boudat (Europcar) abandoned.

 

At one point, Voeckler was only 17 seconds ahead but he managed to extend it to 35 seconds. With 10km to go, Clement Saint-Martin (Marseille) took off in pursuit and at the start of the final lap, he was only 9 seconds behind while the peloton was at 22 seconds.

 

More riders make it across

As they started to climb, defending champion Demoitie got dropped while Saint-Martin joined Voeckler. At this point, they were still 17 seconds ahead and there was no organized chase going on.

 

Guay attacked from the peloton and he was joined by Geniez and Jerome Baugnies (Wanty). The trio managed to join the front duo and they entered the final 4km with a lead of 10 seconds.

 

Jeremy Roy (FDJ), Antomarchi and Julien Duval (Armee) were the next to attack and they managed to bridge the gap just before the flamme rouge. More riders got across inside the final kilometre and it was De Troyer who made a late move to win the race.