Luka Mezgec went into the GP Plouay hoping for his first big classics win. However, a strong breakaway stayed away in the finale and the Slovenian lost his lead-out man Reinardt van Rensburg in the finale.

Team Giant-Shimano have come away from the one-day WorldTour race, GP Ouest France – Plouay empty handed despite a strong overall performance from the team on the day.

Luka Mezgec, Reinardt Janse van Rensberg and Thomas Damuseau were all present in the front peloton at the finish behind a small break of seven riders that formed in the last five kilometres of the race but they could not find the space for Mezgec to sprint for a result.

An early break formed on the first lap of the 229km race in Plouay with five riders taking to the fore. The undulating nature of the circuit always meant that their chances of staying out front were slim and the race was all back together with a little under 50km to go.

The regrouping sparked a series of attacks and a strong seven man group formed at the front of the race. Team Giant-Shimano were concentrating their efforts on keeping Mezgec as fresh as possible for late in the day, and as a result weren’t focused on getting into the moves.

These seven maintained between 25-40 seconds advantage until the final lap where they were swallowed up by a small peloton on the final climb of the Côte de Ty-Marrec. The last bid attempts to get away came thick and fast and over the top another seven rider group formed with a chase group not far off containing van Rensburg.

The second group were caught by the main bunch on the run-in to the finish but the leading seven managed to hold enough of an advantage to the finishing straight to contest the win between themselves.

Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) was strongest to the line, while int he group behind Mezgec has van Rensburg and Damuseau for company but was unable to find the space to sprint for a placing. Van Rensburg was the first home for the team in 15th position.

Team Giant-Shimano coach Marc Reef said after the race: “It was a controlled race today and as expected things all came back together on the final lap. We didn’t help with the controlling because we wanted to focus our efforts on the final. Tom [Veelers] did a strong ride helping keep the guys before Albert [Timmer] positioned Luka for the final climb and helped him there but Albert punctured here and couldn’t help over the top.

“Luka, Reinardt and Thomas were still in the front group after the last climb but in the sprint at the end Luka was blocked and we didn’t get a result.”

Van Rensburg added afterwards: “It was a nice race today, all the time up and down on a good circuit and I was surprised with my good form after suffering from a cold this week.

“The final was really hectic with a lot of attacks. I followed the attacks on the last climb and although I was in position I lacked the power to follow the final group that went away.

“There was a regrouping in the final 2.5km [behind the break] and I quickly found Luka and brought him to the front. Unfortunately I lost him with just over 1km to go and the finish came so quickly that I had to make a last minute decision to give it a go. But I was already on the limit and didn’t have the legs for a result.”