2021 Bretagne Classic, 1.WT, 29 August

[Armchair Cyclist]

Starting shortly, it is WT so there ought to be something.
Eurosport from 11:30 CET

250.5 km, 4016 m of vertical gain,

https://imgur.com/eh4Y0ZB

View: https://imgur.com/eh4Y0ZB


Clockwise at the beginning and end, anticlockwise in the western stretches around this elongated figure of eight to the coast and back:

https://imgur.com/BJ0AQvL

View: https://imgur.com/BJ0AQvL

Gravel section with c 80 km remaining (the red writing on the map).
Very low likelihood of rain, wind up to 22km/h from northeast.

• Team BikeExchange (Kangert, Bookwalter)
• Deceuninck - Quick Step (Cattaneo, Alaphilippe)
• Lotto Soudal (Małecki, Marczyński)
• AG2R Citroën Team (Gallopin, Cosnefroy)
• Team Jumbo-Visma (Vingegaard, Harper)
• EF Education - Nippo (Valgren, El Fares)
• Bahrain - Victorious (Valls, Capecchi)
• BORA - hansgrohe (Konrad, Fabbro)
• Team Qhubeka NextHash (Nizzolo, Clarke)
• UAE-Team Emirates (Ulissi, Pogačar)
• Movistar Team (Serrano, Rubio)
• Astana - Premier Tech (Kudus, Felline)
• Team DSM (Roche, Hindley)
• Team TotalEnergies (Terpstra, Boasson Hagen)
• Israel Start-Up Nation (Martin, Hermans)
• B&B Hotels p/b KTM (Pacher, Hivert)
• INEOS Grenadiers (Swift, Amador)
• Groupama - FDJ (Ladagnous, Gaudu)
• Team Arkéa Samsic (Bouet, Barguil)
• Cofidis, Solutions Crédits (Geschke, Consonni)
• Burgos-BH (Peñalver, Molenaar)
• Trek - Segafredo (Stuyven, Ghebreigzabhier)
• Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert Matériaux (Vanspeybrouck, Planckaert)
• DELKO (Prades, Fernández)

Odds (better of Bet365 or Unibet, as reported by nicerodds)

Julian Alaphilippe 5/1 Tadej Pogacar 13/2 Ethan Hayter 8/1 Mikkel Frølich Honoré 11/1 Giacomo Nizzolo 14/1 Jasper Stuyven 18/1 Diego Ulissi 22/1 Davide Ballerini 22/1 Ide Schelling 22/1 Benoît Cosnefroy 22/1 David Dekker 33/1 Michael Valgren 33/1 Pascal Eenkhoorn 40/1 Andrea Vendrame 40/1 Valentin Madouas 40/1

​

 

[RedheadDane]

Team Jumbo-Visma
(Vingegaard, Harper)

Harper and not-Harper!

 

[Wvv]

Really weird choice of riders to highlight.

 

[SafeBet]

This must be the best race I never care about.
I end up watching it almost every year and it's often entertaining but I kinda forget it exists until the day before.
Considering how late this thread was opened I'm probably not the only one.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Considering how late this thread was opened I'm probably not the only one.

Considering how it was opened by me, and I never open race threads, I'd say you are right.

Really weird choice of riders to highlight.

PCS's choice: probably from an algorithm rather than considered choices.

 

[RedheadDane]

PCS's choice: probably from an algorithm rather than considered choices.

Aaah, yes! The PCS Cloning Algorithm! At least as long as a team has only published one rider.

 

[tobydawq]

I really don't get why this race has to take place just one day before the Benelux Tour and during the Vuelta.

 

[Orbit501]

Thanks for starting the thread. Was looking for this yesterday in the lesser known races and ended up getting a bit of a spoiler for Brussels.

Looks like a good parcour here. Wondering how hard the punchier sprinters like Nizzolo, Ballerini, Vendrame, Turgis et al will find this?

 

[Orbit501]

Coverage just started on Eurosport Player.
Marvellous scenes!

 

[SafeBet]

Not a bad break (although of only 4 riders): De Marchi, Grignard, Q. Hermans, Gougeard.
UAE pulling the peloton.

 

[noob]

The image quality really is awful. I've no idea what's wrong, but it's bordering on painful for my eyes.

 

[Anderis]

G##g#ard in the breakaway. Or maybe even two.

 

[Orbit501]

TTE been on or near the front all day. Wonder who their designated leader is....EBH or Turgis?

 

[Orbit501]

Wow!.... This gravel section looks nasty!

 

[RedheadDane]

Pretty strong chase group: Alaphilippe, Pogacar, Cosnefroy, and Honoré.

 

[TomBonnen2005]

Pretty strong chase group: Alaphilippe, Pogacar, Cosnefroy, and Honoré.

Nice to see the main contenders of the "Druivenkoers 1.1" hammering the race

 

[RedheadDane]

Cows! And it looked like they were on the road...

 

[Wvv]

Pogacar dropped.
He is human. Lovely sight.

 

[SafeBet]

The unfamiliar sight of Pogacar cracking. Quite stunning.

 

[Orbit501]

Team Cows working against Terpstra there

And Pog goes pop. Hardly surprising really. Was surprised to see him in that move in the first place.

 

[Samamba]

So it's possible to crack Pogacar, interesting.
Actually a really good race right now.

Looks like Quick Step is on another level and gonna win again tho.

 

[HelloDolly]

Carapaz, Picock at Vuelta and Pogacar suffering from Olympics

Also Schachmann but not Roglic

 

[tobydawq]

Pogacar is evidently over the hill now. UAE must be crying for having signed him on such a long contract.

 

[RedheadDane]

ISN guy with a slight wardrobe malfunction.

 

[DoYouEvenRideBruh]

Alaph attacking and Honoré drops back to the car?