Alexander Kristoff went into the GP Plouay as the big favourite but his Katusha team was unable to keep things together for a bunch sprint. Having sprinted to 8th, the Norwegian admitted that the race had been too hard for him.

For the second Sunday in a row Team Katusha’s Alexander Kristoff put up a strong sprint, winning last week in Vattanfall Cyclassics and taking eighth in today’s GP Ouest Plouay, earning valuable UCI points in the WorldTour race and moving into fifth place in the UCI Individual rankings. Team Katusha also ranks 5th in the teams classification.

"I thought it was good to sprint for that 8th place. You never know when in the front they might start to hesitate. Moreover, I again took some valuable WorldTour points. On the other hand, I have to be honest. The final of the race was a bit too hard for me with all of those climbs, but I can’t complain about my shape. My condition is still good and I am able to win the sprint from the peloton after such a long and hard race. This gives me confidence for the races still to come. I will now go to the WorldTour races in Canada for the first time. I look forward to doing these races," said Alexander Kristoff.

"The race scenario was not ideal for us. There was an early break which was good and we could control that break, but Orica chased them down too early. That meant at 60km from the finish the attacks never stopped coming and we couldn’t chase down the decisive break. But our riders did a really good job and handled what they could. We just missed 50 meters," said team director Uwe Peschel.

The win was for Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) from a reduced group of seven. Taking second and third places were Andrea Fedi (Neri Sottoli) and Arthur Vichot of FDJ. Kristoff took the win from the main group at two seconds for eighth place.