A sprint settled in the final 50 metres
Elisa Balsamo won the Classic Lorient Agglomeration Ceratizit on Saturday in Plouay. The Lidl-Trek rider came past Mischa Bredewold in the dying metres of a sprint fought out by a heavily reduced bunch.
Bredewold had looked to have timed it perfectly. The SD Worx-Protime rider used the descent into the finishing straight to launch a long, very long sprint. Balsamo tucked in behind her, drew level inside the final 100 metres, then edged her on the line. Franziska Koch of FDJ United-Suez completed the podium.
One number tells the story of just how big that was. Bredewold had won the race three years running and held the outright record for victories in the first 25 editions of the event. She was going for four in a row.
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Ty Marrec climbed did the damage
The early break was caught on the finishing circuit. The last two laps then came with a string of attacks.
Maeva Squiban went clear with 12,5 kilometres to go and hit the final ascent of the Ty Marrec climb with a 15-second lead. It wasn’t enough. The French rider was reeled in on the climb, just as Celia Gery and Eleonora Gasparrini countered.
The pair never managed more than a few seconds. Caught with 3,6 kilometres remaining, they left the race heading for the sprint finish the puncheurs had feared.
Balsamo backed her teammates
The Italian completed the 4h30’49” race by thanking her team, who shut things down for her late on.
“On the last climb, I was just looking at the wheel in front of me because it was so hard. But I was still in the front group, and I trusted my teammates completely. I knew they could bring everything back together,” said the Lidl-Trek rider.
On the sprint itself, she admitted patience paid off. “She launched a really long sprint on the left, while I was on the right. But I know this finish is very hard, so I believed right to the end, especially in the last 50 metres.”
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