GP de Plouay 2020 [FULL RACE] (ladies)

August 25, 2020

GP de Plouay 2020 – Plouay – Plouay : 101,1 km

It’s an unusually busy week of racing in Plouay, France, with the UEC European Championships being moved to the French town and held from August 24-28, now being held alongside the GP de Plouay-Lorient Agglomeration Trophee WNT on August 25. The long-running French one-day race for women maintained its August position on the revised Women’s WorldTour circuit despite the cancellations and changes due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic that halted the international calendar for five months. It now forms part of a block of racing in France that will conclude with La Course by Le Tour de France on August 29. The small village of Plouay annually hosts the one-day race. Now in its 19th edition, the inaugural event was in 2002 as part of the former Women’s World-Cup series.

Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) claimed a record third victory in the GP de Plouay when she beat her fellow Briton Lizzy Banks (Équipe Paule Ka) in a two-up sprint at the end of a rain-sodden race in Brittany.

Chiara Consonni (Valcar – Travel & Service) won the bunch sprint for third ahead of Marta Bastianelli (Alé BTC Ljubljana), a little over a minute down on Deignan and Banks.

Banks and Deignan had a winning gap on their pursuers by the time they hit the final climb of the Côte du Pont-Neuf. Deignan looked comfortable, leading most of the way up the ascent, and the former world champion then calmly manoeuvred Banks to the front to lead out the sprint.

How it happened

It was an early start for the Women’s WorldTour peloton, and though the 101.1 km race began in the dry, it soon started raining. Swiss Lara Krähemann (Cogeas Mettler Look) went on a solo escape on the initial 46.5 km loop, but when the race crossed the finish line for the first time to tackle four laps of the finishing circuit, she had been caught again.

Swiss champion Marlen Reusser (Équipe Paule Ka) kept a high pace in the peloton on the first of the three laps. At the start of the antepenultimate lap, Reusser attacked herself, but was quickly reeled in again.

A mass crash on the wet and narrow roads held up last year’s winner Anna van der Breggen (Boels-Dolmans), world champion Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott), and newly-crowned Spanish champion Margarita Victoria García (Alé BTC Ljubljana), among others.

Soon after, Banks triggered the winning move when she attacked with 35km to go. She was quickly joined by Deignan and Jip van den Bos (Boels-Dolmans). However, the Dutchwoman crashed out of the break almost immediately when she misjudged a turn on the wet roads, leaving Deignan and Banks alone at the head of the race.

The two Britons combined smoothly, and they quickly established a lead of a minute over a group of ten chasers that had formed on the Côte du Lézot, 25 km from the finish.

With one lap of the 13.6-kilometer circuit remaining, Deignan and Banks still had 43 seconds in hand on the chase group, though their lead was briefly threatened by some fierce accelerations from Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott).

It was a short-lived rally from the world champion, however, and when she dropped to the rear of the group, Deignan and Banks’ advantage rose again, with Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) and Mikayla Harvey (Équipe Paule Ka) helping to police the chase group. Eventually, the chasers stopped their efforts to catch the front duo and were themselves joined by the peloton six kilometers from the line.

Results :
1 Elizabeth Deignan (GBr) Trek – Segafredo 2:43:40
2 Elizabeth Banks (GBr) Equipe Paule Ka
3 Chiara Consonni (Ita) Valcar – Travel & Service 0:01:13
4 Marta Bastianelli (Ita) Ale BTC Ljubljana
5 Elena Cecchini (Ita) Canyon – SRAM Racing
6 Arianna Fidanza (Ita) Lotto Soudal Ladies
7 Marta Lach (Pol) CCC – Liv
8 Maria Giulia Confalonieri (Ita) Ceratizit – WNT Pro Cycling Team
9 Alicia Gonzalez Blanco (Spa) Movistar Team Women
10 Stine Borgli (Nor) FDJ Nouvelle – Aquitaine Futuroscope
11 Leah Kirchmann (Can) Team Sunweb
12 Liane Lippert (Ger) Team Sunweb
13 Mikayla Harvey (NZl) Equipe Paule Ka
14 Silvia Persico (Ita) Valcar – Travel & Service
15 Aude Biannic (Fra) Movistar Team Women
16 Eugénie Duval (Fra) FDJ Nouvelle – Aquitaine Futuroscope
17 Amy Pieters (Ned) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam
18 Alison Jackson (Can) Team Sunweb
19 Emilia Fahlin (Swe) FDJ Nouvelle – Aquitaine Futuroscope
20 Marta Cavalli (Ita) Valcar – Travel & Service
21 Valerie Demey (Bel) CCC – Liv
22 Demi Vollering (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg
23 Lotte Kopecky (Bel) Lotto Soudal Ladies
24 Eva Buurman (Ned) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam
25 Ruth Winder (USA) Trek – Segafredo
26 Noemie Abgrall (Fra) Charente – Maritime Women Cycling
27 Floortje Mackaij (Ned) Team Sunweb
28 Leah Thomas (USA) Equipe Paule Ka
29 Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Trek – Segafredo
30 Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den) FDJ Nouvelle – Aquitaine Futuroscope
31 Sarah Roy (Aus) Mitchelton Scott
32 Eugenia Bujak (Slo) Ale BTC Ljubljana
33 Jesse Vandenbulcke (Bel) Lotto Soudal Ladies
34 Anouska Koster (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg
35 Marlen Reusser (Swi) Equipe Paule Ka
36 Teuntje Beekhuis (Ned) Lotto Soudal Ladies
37 Nina Buijsman (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg
38 Riejanne Markus (Ned) CCC – Liv
39 Danielle Christmas (GBr) Lotto Soudal Ladies
40 Charlotte Becker (Ger) Team Arkea
41 Ane Santesteban Gonzalez (Spa) Ceratizit – WNT Pro Cycling Team
42 Margarita Victo Garcia Cañellas (Spa) Ale BTC Ljubljana
43 Urska Pintar (Slo) Ale BTC Ljubljana
44 Ilaria Sanguineti (Ita) Valcar – Travel & Service
45 Chantal Van den Broek-blaak (Ned) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam
46 Alena Amialiusik (Blr) Canyon – SRAM Racing
47 Kathrin Hammes (Ger) Ceratizit – WNT Pro Cycling Team
48 Erica Magnaldi (Ita) Ceratizit – WNT Pro Cycling Team
49 Jip Van den Bos (Ned) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam
50 Grace Brown (Aus) Mitchelton Scott
51 Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned) Mitchelton Scott
52 Tayler Wiles (USA) Trek – Segafredo
53 Karol-Ann Canuel (Can) Boels Dolmans Cyclingteam
54 Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned) CCC – Liv 0:01:19
55 Anaïs Morichon (Fra) Team Arkea 0:03:18
56 Abby-Mae Parkinson (GBr) Lotto Soudal Ladies 0:03:46
57 Catalina Anais Soto Campos (Chi) Wcc Team 0:05:56
58 Celia Le Mouel (Fra) Charente – Maritime Women Cycling
59 Eyeru Tesfoam Gebru (Eth) Wcc Team
60 Tanja Erath (Ger) Canyon – SRAM Racing 0:05:58
61 Lorena Wiebes (Ned) Team Sunweb
62 Lisa Klein (Ger) Canyon – SRAM Racing
63 Anna Henderson (GBr) Team Sunweb
64 Victorie Guilman (Fra) FDJ Nouvelle – Aquitaine Futuroscope
65 Magdeleine Vallieres Mill (Can) Wcc Team
66 Julie Leth (Den) Ceratizit – WNT Pro Cycling Team
67 Katrine Aalerud (Nor) Movistar Team Women
68 Alice Barnes (GBr) Canyon – SRAM Racing
69 Barbara Guarischi (Ita) Movistar Team Women
70 Trixi Worrack (Ger) Trek – Segafredo
71 Annabel Fisher (GBr) Cogeas Mettler Look pro Cycling Team 0:06:20
72 Sandra Levenez (Fra) Team Arkea
73 Coralie Houdin (Fra) Team Arkea 0:07:49
74 India Grangier (Fra) Charente – Maritime Women Cycling 0:08:31
75 Tatiana Guderzo (Ita) Ale BTC Ljubljana 0:10:44
76 Nancy Van der Burg (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg