Preview Bretagne Classic 2024 | Here we have Nys, now a strong contender in WorldTour classics!

The WorldTour calendar is now firmly back on track because of the Vuelta a Espana and races such as the Bretagne Classic and the Renewi Tour. In this preview, IDLProCycling anticipates the famous one-day race in Western France, where Thibau Nys normally finishes his road season.

Whoever looks at the list of honors of the Bretagne Classic sees a wide range of riders. On the one hand, there are fast men like Elia Viviani and Alexander Kristoff, but punching types like Benoit Cosnefroy and Valentin Madouas have already registered the one-day race in their name. In between, we see typical guys like Sep Vanmarcke, Oliver Naesen (twice), and Wout van Aert.

Last year in Plouay, Mathieu van der Poel rode his first race in his then-achieved Glasgow rainbow jersey, but in the Madouass, he won. The Frenchman from Groupama-FDJ held off Mathieu Burgaudeau, Felix Grossschartner, and teammate Stefan Küng, while Van der Poel came in anonymously in place 74.

Practical information Bretagne Classic 2024

• Plouay - Plouay (259.0 km)
• Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024
• Participants
• Classification: WorldTour

In this article

• Latest winners
• Course, weather, and timetable
• Favorites
• TV information

Latest winners Bretagne Classic

2023 Valentin Madouas
2022 Wout van Aert
2021 Benoit Cosnefroy
2020 Michael Matthews
2019 Sep Vanmarcke
2018 Oliver Naesen
2017 Elia Viviani
2016 Oliver Naesen
2015 Alexander Kristoff
2014 Sylvain Chavanel

Course, weather, and timetable BretagneClassic 2024

The Bretagne Classic: Ouest France has been a stronghold of the annual WorldTour circuit for several years under different names. The exciting thing about this race is that the type of winner does not always match the number of altimeters to be covered. There are 4000 altimeters, yet men like Alexander Kristoff and Elia Viviani are on the recent victory list.

This year's course will likely be no different, though, in recent years, it has tended more toward the classic types. From start to finish, it goes up and down through the Breton countryside, where cycling heroes like Bernard Hinault and Warren Barguil hail from. From Plouay, we initially head north, turning right at Plouneuor Menez.

After ninety kilometers, we are at that turning point through the Breton country, with barely any meters of flat ahead of us. At about eighty kilometers from the finish in Plouay, we should probably expect the start of the finale, knowing that we have several challenging hills to overcome there, even before we get to the local circuit.

With the hill Marta (0.9 km, 8.4%) and shortly after that, the Longeo (1.2 km, 6.3%), more separation can be made before we reach the local lap in and around Plouay. This one is 11.7 kilometers long and has to be conquered once, but it secretly contains 171 tricky altimeters hidden within it.

There are three more tricky climbs in this local lap, the first of which is the Rostervel. This one is 1.5 kilometers at 4.5 percent, after which the riders get a little breathing room. The Lezot (0.8 km at 5.3 percent) and Kersoulic (0.3 km at 8.9 percent) follow each other a bit faster, after which we still have about four kilometers in a slightly downhill trend to the finish line in Plouay. Therein, it often comes to a battle between a few breakaway riders and a trailing group.

Weather
Sunday is expected to be pleasant in Plouay. With 21 degrees Celsius and a breeze from the sea, the weather will be fine, with probably no precipitation.

Timetable

Favorites Brittany Classic 2024

Please note that the list of participants is not yet official, so changes may still be made.

Well, then, what an impressive list of participants! Nobody is from the list of all-time greats (category Van der Poel, Pogacar, Van Aert, and Evenepoel), but that shouldn't spoil the fun. Indeed, on paper, it only makes the race in Brittany more exciting. The season's revelation is Thibau Nys, who will normally end his road year with the WorldTour classic after nine seasonal victories. He does this with Jasper Stuyven and Bauke Mollema at Lidl-Trek.

Traditionally, the French also perform well in Brittany; we can list some of them. Two-time world champion Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step), for example, but also Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies), Christophe Laporte (Visma | Lease a Bike), Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa - B&B Hotels), Paul Lapeira and Benoit Cosnefroy (Decathlon AG2R). And then we haven't mentioned defending champion Valentin Madouas of Groupama-FDJ, with Romain Grégoire and Laurence Pithie as teammates.

Besides Nys and Stuyven, there will be many strong Belgians at the start. Lotto-Dstny will start with a solid formation, with Maxim Van Gils and Arnaud De Lie assigned the leadership role. In addition, riders such as Tiesj Benoot (Visma | Lease a Bike), Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step) will perform well in this race.

In a way, the Bretagne Classic is a race for the punchers. At UAE-Team Emirates, you have Clasica San Sebastian winner Marc Hirschi and his compatriot Jan Christen, while INEOS Grenadiers is fielding Tom Pidcock. Types like Maximilian Schachmann (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Soren Kragh Andersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Alex Aranburu (Movistar), and Magnus Cort (Uno-X) should also be able to go far. The latter team also has Jonas Abrahamsen, Rasmus Tiller, and Soren Waerenskjold at its disposal.

Looking at strong sprinters, we end up with Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla) and Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost). Not yet mentioned men with a sprint are Casper van Uden (dsm-firmenich PostNL), Vincenzo Albanese (Arkéa - B&B Hotels), Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar), Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) and Hugo Page (Intermarché-Wanty).

Favorites Bretagne Classic 2024, according to IDLProCycling

Top favorites:Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) and Christophe Laporte (Visma | Lease a Bike)
Outsiders:Marc Hirschi (UAE-Team Emirates), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step), Maxim Van Gils (Lotto-Dstny) and Tom Pidcock (INEOS Grenadiers)

TV Bretagne Classic 2024

Those wishing to watch the Bretagne Classic live on Sunday must tune in to HBO Max or Discovery+. Due to overlap with numerous other races/sports, the race will be available exclusively via the live stream from 12:40 p.m. to 5 p.m.