Jürgen Roelandts did it again, for the fourth consecutive year the Belgian finished in the top ten at the Grand Prix Plouay. It was an attractive finale, with attacks of Tim Wellens and Tiesj Benoot, but still it ended with a sprint.

Backaert, Beppu, Delaplace, Jaurégui and Pichot all chose to join the early breakaway. The peloton gave them a lead of up to eleven minutes, but they didn’t stand a chance. In the seventh lap, 44.4 kilometres from the end, it was over for them.

After Stig Broeckx had a go chasing down the escapees, Tim Wellens attacked at the start of the last lap of 26.9 kilometres. Six others joined him: Bono, Clarke, Deignan, Dillier, Lutsenko and Rogers. They didn’t get much space, maximally half a minute. Uphill Wellens, Dillier and Lutsenko left their companions behind and the trio entered the final lap together, that was a smaller one of 13.9 kilometres.

During the last ascent of the Côte de Ty-Marrec, when the riders only had five kilometres left to cover, Tiesj Benoot bridged to the front. The Lotto Soudal rider got ahead with Breschel, Dillier, Lutsenko and Van Avermaet. Van Avermaet did an ultimate jump, but with one kilometre to go the reduced peloton had reeled them all in. Alexander Kristoff crossed the finish line first, ahead of Simone Ponzi and Ramunas Navardauskas. Jürgen Roelandts sprinted to the fifth place and reached the goal he had set for himself.

“I am satisfied with this result. I started the sprint on the wheel of Ponzi, who got second. I possibly started sprinting too early, that was with three hundred metres to go, because I wanted to anticipate the jump of Kristoff. On the other hand I could have gotten boxed in if I hadn’t begun my sprint already. Anyway, Kristoff was the fastest of the pack. It’s a nice performance to end up in the top ten here for the fourth time in a row, although I gladly would have changed these results for one victory,” Jürgen Roelandts said.

“There was a headwind after the Côte de Ty-Marrec, so the escapees hardly had any chance to make it to the finish line. I decided to wait for the sprint. I was on the wheel of Jens Debusschere towards the corner at one and a half kilometres of the finish. The sprint in Plouay is always hectic and it’s difficult to stay together. But I managed to maintain a good position.

“Of course I would love to be part of the Belgian selection for the road race at the World Championships. This is a good sign, my condition keeps going upwards and I hope the coach notices that. My next races are the WorldTour races in Canada: Québec and Montréal. In theory Québec should suit me better, but I set the best results in Montréal where I already finished in top ten twice. I don’t know the reason, it might be the jetlag. I hope to be close to the victory in at least one of the two races."