The BMC Racing, Lampre-ISD and Quick Step teams have all announced the teams that they are sending to Sunday’s Grand Prix Ouest-France in Plouay, Brittany. The cycling-mad village, that was the venue for the 2000 World Championships, will also host the Grand Prix Plouay – the final round of the women’s World Cup – on Saturday as part of a weekend of racing. Sunday’s race will be the latest round of the International Cycling Union (UCI) WorldTour, giving an opportunity to one-day specialists, while the tour riders are at the Vuelta a España.
The 2010 edition was won by Matt Goss (HTC-Highroad) in a bunch sprint but, more often than not, it goes to a breakaway, with riders like Tour de France hero Thomas Voeckler, Pierrick Fédrigo (both Bouygues Telecom at the time) and Simon Gerrans (then Cervélo TestTeam) all successful in recent years.
BMC Racing will be backing the chances of its one French rider Amaël Moinard, who is banking on a breakaway being allowed to stay away.
"I like this race and I hope to be able to follow some good moves in the finale," said Moinard. "Of course, it's often a sprinter who wins this race, but sometimes it's different and some good attacks can survive to the finish. With guys like Michi [Schär] and Steve [Morabito], we have a good team that can try something without waiting for a sprint."
Moinard’s BMC Racing director Fabio Baldato certainly feels that the Frenchman stands a good chance in the rolling 248.3km race. "He's focused and motivated and the course suits him," he said.
Lampre-ISD goes to the race with its options open, ready to fight for successful breakaways as well as being ready for a possible bunch sprint.
"We'll be at the start of the race with the quality to be very competitive,” explained sports director Valerio Tebaldi. “[Damiano] Cunego, [Diego] Ulissi and [Daniele] Pietropolli will be protagonists if the race is tough, also taking into account that they're quite quick in the sprint. If the race isn’t so tough, [Grega] Bole will be our main man.
“[Adriano] Malori will try to pay attention to the breakaways while [Simon] Spilak will become competitive if there are cold weather conditions,” he added. “[Danilo] Hondo and [David] Loosli will be the experienced athletes of the team".
Quick Step too, is going to the race hoping to be ready for any eventuality; like BMC Racing, the Belgian team is bringing in one of its two French riders for the race.
“The formation is quite similar to the selection that achieved excellent results in Hamburg last Sunday, except for [Jérôme] Pineau who will be standing in for Stybar,” said Quick Step sports director Tom Steels. “The squad will have more technical solutions. We’re going to try to protect [Gerald] Ciolek in case he arrives at the final sprint. On Sunday Gerald proved that he’s in great shape and in the last years the race has often been decided with a limited group of athletes arriving in a sprint.
“The team can also count on the skills of [Dries] Devenyns and Pineau, who’s getting back to racing after a long intermission,” Steels continued. “Both these guys could try to light up the competition on the short yet daunting climbs that are typical in the final of this race. We’ll also have [Niki] Terpstra on the squad, a specialist in long actions, who may try attacking far from the finish line.
“Overall the team is in good health and competitive, ready to give a good race," he concluded.
BMC Racing Team for the Grand Prix Ouest-France:
Marcus Burghardt, Yannick Eijssen, Amaël Moinard, Steve Morabito, John Murphy, Michael Schär, Danilo Wyss and Simon Zahner
Lampre-ISD team for the Grand Prix Ouest-France:
Grega Bole, Damiano Cunego, Danilo Hondo, David Loosli, Adriano Malori, Daniele Pietropolli, Simon Spilak and Diego Ulissi.
Quick Step team for the Grand Prix Ouest-France:
Gerald Ciolek, Dries Devenyns, Addy Engels, Jérôme Pineau, Andreas Stauff, Niki Terpstra, Matteo Trentin and Julien Vermote