We’re coming close to the end of the season, and normally the peloton would be abuzz before the World Championships, with GP de Plouay Lorient Agglomération as the final Women’s WorldTour one day before the fight for a rainbow jersey.
As it is, we’ve already crowned Lotte Kopecky world champion, and the season is headed towards its conclusion. Because of that, GP de Plouay is going to be quite interesting. It truly is a wide-open event. With a lot of big names opting to stay home leadership is handed over to younger riders and domestiques. However, a few teams on the startlist are still without some major wins and will throw everything they can at the hilly French course.
The Basics
The 159.6 km long GP de Plouay takes place on Sunday, September 2nd, with live coverage starting at 12:40 CEST and wrapping up at 17:00 CEST (that looks like start-to-finish coverage to me!).
It’s a race that can be won in every which way, with previous victories coming from a solo attack, a small group, or even a reduced bunch sprint.
The Route
During the pandemic, the organizers condensed the course to only circuits around a closed course, to make things easier. Last year, the route returned to its former shape, with the riders first heading out into the French hills before returning to the circuits.
The rolling road before the race enters the circuits is still challenging, as we saw in the 2022 edition, won by Mavi García.
The circuits are tight roads, constantly moving up and down, with a descent to the finish that will stretch the peloton. It is super important for any riders with high hopes to be in the front before the race enters the circuits because that is where things will become more unpredictable.
If anything is already up the road or manages to get away on the circuits, the peloton can’t see far. Out of sight out of mind? Maybe not in a professional peloton but it’s been an interesting year when it comes to these things, and teams don’t have A-squads to chase things down.
All the climbs in the final circuits are short but they will tire the legs. By the end, riders will be dropping out the back to the peloton like it’s nobody’s business.
The Favourites
The list of previous winners is impressive, including former world champion Lizzie Deignan. The Lidl-Trek rider was clearly flying at Worlds and continued to show consistent form at Tour of Scandinavia. As a former winner, she knows the finish of this race and has an advantage over a lot of her competitors.
The defending winner García returns, albeit after a quieter season. It will be one of her final races with Liv Racing TeqFind before the Spanish champion moves to Jayco-AlUla at the end of the season.
UAE Team ADQ’s Silvia Persico is a strong all-arounder which means this course is great for her. The same goes for Grace Brown of FDJ-Suez, who is riding really well this late in the season based on her stage win in Scandinavia and second at the ITT at Worlds. Brown’s teammate Loes Adegeest is another one to watch. She won the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race earlier in the year, which has a very similar vibe to what GP de Plouay will have this year, in terms of team rosters and being on the outskirts of the full-gas season.
After her podium finish overall at Tour of Scandinavia Amber Kraak clearly has the legs to take her first WorldTour win. Jumbo-Visma are without Coryn Rivera and Marianne Vos, so they can really play with the race.
Canyon-SRAM has some interesting riders on the line, between Elise Chabbey who will surely be on the attack, Maike van der Duin a very strong sprinter, and Soraya Paladin who has proved her versatility this year.
Team SD Worx is without both Kopecky and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift winner Demi Vollering, but they still have Marlen Reusser on the line. The Swiss rider will have the legs but will probably find it hard to get away without her strongest teammates to back her up. She still has some firepower in Niamh Fisher-Black and Christine Majerus.
Probably the strongest team on the startlist is DSM-Firmenich with Juliette Labous, Pfeiffer Georgi and Megan Jastrab. A lot to play with between those three, with cards for a solo move, a sprint, and everything in between.
Similarly, Movistar has Liane Lippert for any kind of move, Arlenis Sierra for a reduced bunch sprint, and even Floortje Mackaij to try something gutsy.
Some interesting riders to watch include the duo of Ashleigh Moolman Pasio and Ally Wollaston from AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step. Both are going to be strong on the climbs and are riding well. Wollaston especially could find herself in a good position to get a result.
Finally, EF Education First-TIBCO-SVB comes in with Paris-Roubaix winner Alison Jackson, who will want to finish her season the way it started, with an exciting victory.
Escape Collective star ratings
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: Deignan, Brown, Lippert, Georgi
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: Reusser, Jastrab, Sierra, Kraak
⭐️⭐️⭐️: Majerus, Chabbey, Paladin, Persico
⭐️⭐️: García, Mackaij, Van der Duin, Jackson
⭐️: Wollaston, Moolman Pasio, Labous
Conversation with the Wheel Talk podcast
Loren Rowney: So it looks like Cecilie [Uttrup Ludwig] isn’t racing. Kasia [Niewiadoma] isn’t either, she said on social media her next race is the Simac Ladies Tour.
I feel like this race is a race that comes at the end of the season and favours people who, I mean, it’s a bit weird this time around, since it’s after worlds. Normally it’s before Worlds and people are still trying to prove they should be on the Worlds team, even though most teams are selected by that point.
But it definitely favours people who still have their heads on their shoulders at this point in the season, or have had a slower first three-quarters of the season.
Abby Mickey: Anyone who has had an injury or illness earlier this season and maybe missed out on some targets. There’s not a ton of big names on the start list. And that’s because a lot of those riders, especially with worlds over, they’ve already reached their goals and it’s been a long season.
LR: This is the opportunity where riders who have maybe been working for teammates or like you said, have had an injury or illness can really step up and seize opportunity. If we think about past editions, people who are just really gutsy at the end, and I feel like that long, sluggish hill before the finish, I think it plateaus about 3k to go or something, there’s so much hesitation from the group at that point.
And you get a bit of group two syndrome at this point. Quite often you have a small select group and then sometimes there’s a little bit of looking around and one person goes over the top and then they manage to hold it to the finish.
AM: This will be such an interesting race, especially this year, they aren’t doing the same circuit they’ve done in recent years. They’re doing a really long loop or kind of two loops out in the countryside before they come into the old circuits.
It’s still hilly, that region of France was really hilly, but it’s not quite as challenging as when it was just the circuits because those are just constantly up and down and twisty. So if you’re not on it, if you get distanced, it’s really hard to get back into the bunch, because the bunch is moving so fast the entire race.
So I feel like it’s gonna be very different this year than the last three years. But so once it gets to those circuits, it’s game on. And I think if we’re talking about riders who have come into the later half of the season flying like, I feel like Lizzie Deignan is a really good shout.
LR: What do you think about Jumbo-Visma? I mean, I see Coryn Labecki is on the list. Kim Cadzow had a really good Tour of Scandinavia, and so did Amber Kraak. They’ve got a really strong team there. I would love to see Coryn go well. I always felt like this was a race that she could win. And you know, there’s no Marianne Vos because she’s just undergone [illiac artery] surgery.
AM: Coryn is such a good pick for a course like this. And I think the team that they have, would be a really strong team to back her.
I’m really curious to see Movistar play it with Sierra because I think she’s been working so hard this season for that team and I just really would like to see them give her an opportunity to win, but with Lippert there, they kind of always favour their GC riders. But it’s such a great course for Arlenis as well because it’s not like a pure sprinters finish. It’s someone who can sprint but it’s also like kind of savvy and I think that she falls into that category.
LR: And I think she’s podiumed before at Trofeo [Alfredo Binda], which is a similar type of finish. I mean, you’ve got that downhill section but then obviously it goes up again. And she’s pretty strong on those sort of finishes.
A finish like this, it’s basically whatever is left in the tank and sprinting isn’t really sprinting anymore. If it’s been a hard day, it’s just raw power. So yeah, it’d be great to see them get behind her. I think Liane had some nice opportunities this year, so to hand the baton over to a different rider would be really great.
AM: I hope so! Anyway, let’s get to our picks…
Please note that this conversation took place when Labecki was still on the provisional start list.
Wheel Talk Podcast picks
Gracie Elvin: Grace Brown
Abby Mickey: Lizzie Deignan
Loren Rowney: Arlenis Sierra
Matt de Neef: Amber Kraak
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