Tro-Bro Leon 2019 [FULL RACE]

April 22, 2019

Tro-Bro Leon 2019 – Plouguerneau – Lannilis : 205,4 km

Tro-Bro Léon (English: Tour of Léon, French: Tour du Léon) is a professional cycle road race held in Finistère, Brittany. The event was first run in 1984 as an amateur race, becoming a professional race since 2000. The race was established in 2005 as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. It is often called Le Petit Paris–Roubaix or The Hell of the West due to its similarities with Paris–Roubaix, because Tro-Bro Léon includes 24 sections of dirt, cobblestones and gravel roads (making up to 29.7 km or 18.5 mi) on the rolling and windy roads of Brittany. These tracks are called Ribinoù, which is a Breton word meaning anything that is not tarmac, farm tracks, gravel roads, etc

Andrea Vendrame (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) became the first Italian winner in the 35-year history of the Tro-Bro Leon, the Breton version of Paris-Roubaix held one week later on gravelled roads near the coast bordering the English Channel.

The Venetian outsprinted French favourites Marc Sarreau (Groupama-FDJ) and Lilian Calmejane (Total Direct Energie), who also missed out on the podium occupied by Baptiste Planckaert (Wallonie-Bruxelles) and Emil Vinjebo (Riwal).

“Luck was on my side as I had no crash and no puncture,” Vendrame said. “We came across to the leaders in the last lap and the race situation was perfect for me. On Saturday at the Tour du Finistère, I finished second but I didn’t have good legs. Today, I felt great all the way so I was confident in my sprint even though I knew some of the riders up there were quite fast.”

Vendrame was never far behind the attackers, who were four with 50km to go. Sergio Rodriguez (Euskadi-Murias) was first to disappear from the front of the race due to a flat tyre. Alex Paton (Canyon), Kim Magnusson (Riwal Readynez) and Julien El Farès (Delko Marseille) remained in the lead and were reinforced by Conor Swift (Madison Genesis) and Vinjebo. Paton also suffered a flat tyre.

Damien Gaudin (Total Direct Energie), the winner of the 2017 Tro-Bro Leon, made the race very hard in the pursuit of the leaders. He bridged the gap and continued with Vinjebo – the Danish sensation of the day. With 22km to go, five riders came across: Alexis Gougeard (AG2R-La Mondiale), Frederik Backaert (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Thomas Boudat (Total Direct Energie), Anthony Delaplace (Arkea-Samsic) and Alo Jakin (St-Michel-Auber).

Groupama-FDJ brought Sarreau back to the front, but in the last lap, 11 riders regrouped following several attacks by Backaert, who loves the Tro-Bro Leon so much that he mentions this race in every interview he gives.

As Groupama-FDJ outnumbered their rivals with the return of Mickael Delage while Gaudin was out of contention after a puncture with 15km to go, Gougeard forced Sarreau to one last chase that cost him the strength he needed for the final sprint. Vendrame could watch the fight of the French teams and time his sprint at perfection.

“The gravelled roads don’t normally suit me so much because I’m very light, but today the conditions were perfect for me,” the Italian noted. He was welcomed on stage by his compatriot Claudio Chiappucci, who was the guest of honour of the 36th Tro-Bro Leon. The former runner up of the Giro d’Italia, the Tour de France and the world championship translated Vendrame telling race speaker Daniel Mangeas that he’d like to ride for a French team in the future.

Vendrame actually performs particularly well in the west of France since he claimed the silver medal at the 2016 U23 European championship in Plumelec. He also won the last stage of the 2017 Tour de Bretagne. Tro-Bro Leon is the second pro win for the 24-year-old after the final stage of the Circuit de la Sarthe 10 days ago. Now second in the French Cup, he’s set to ride his second Giro d’Italia, starting from Bologna on May 11 after trying to score more points for Androni in the Giro del Appennino on April 28.

Results :
1 Andrea Vendrame (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec 5:00:20
2 Baptiste Planckaert (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
3 Emil Nygaard Vinjebo (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
4 Romain Hardy (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
5 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Direct Energie
6 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
7 Mickael Delage (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
8 Kevin Le Cunff (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
9 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
10 Frederik Backaert (Bel) Wanty-Gobert 0:00:03
11 Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:06
12 Floris Gerts (Ned) Tarteletto-Isorex 0:00:29
13 Andreas Nielsen (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team 0:00:35
14 Zakkari Dempster (Aus) Israel Cycling Academy
15 Thomas Boudat (Fra) Direct Energie
16 Lionel Taminiaux (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
17 Pierre Idjouadiene (Fra) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
18 Clément Russo (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
19 Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
20 Benoit Jarrier (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
21 Anthony Maldonado (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
22 Tony Hurel (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
23 Tom Dernies (Bel) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
24 Hector Saez Benito (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
25 Ludovic Robeet (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
26 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
27 Romain Combaud (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
28 Benjamin Thomas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:42
29 Julien Antomarchi (Fra) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
30 Damien Touze (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:47
31 Connor Swift (GBr) Madison Genesis 0:00:55
32 Kirill Pozdnyakov (Aze) Tarteletto-Isorex 0:01:13
33 Evaldas Siskevicius (Ltu) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:01:31
34 Andrew Tennant (GBr) Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes 0:02:16
35 Timothy Dupont (Bel) Wanty-Gobert 0:02:39
36 Mattia Frapporti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
37 Alexandar Richardson (GBr) Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes
38 Dorian Godon (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
39 Jimmy Turgis (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
40 Guillaume Boivin (Can) Israel Cycling Academy
41 Bert De Backer (Bel) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel 0:02:48
42 Thomas Joseph (Bel) Tarteletto-Isorex
43 Damien Gaudin (Fra) Direct Energie 0:03:08
44 Alo Jakin (Est) St Michel-Auber 93 0:03:18
45 Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:03:33
46 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
47 Iuri Filosi (Ita) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
48 Laurent Pichon (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
49 Mihkel Räim (Est) Israel Cycling Academy 0:03:37
50 Flavien Maurelet (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
51 Yohann Gene (Fra) Direct Energie
52 Dimitri Claeys (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:03:38
53 Kim Magnusson (Swe) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team 0:03:48
54 Julien Morice (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
55 Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
56 Aleksejs Saramotins (Lat) Interpro Cycling Academy
57 Torkil Veyhe (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
58 Polychronis Tzortzakis (Gre) Tarteletto-Isorex 0:03:50
59 Aksel Nõmmela (Est) Wallonie Bruxelles 0:03:54
60 Bram Welten (Ned) Arkéa Samsic
61 Loic Chetout (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:05:59
62 Matthias Brändle (Aut) Israel Cycling Academy 0:06:20
63 Jonas Van Genechten (Bel) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
64 Julien El Fares (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
65 Kevin Ledanois (Fra) Arkéa Samsic
66 Mark Downey (Irl) Evopro Racing
67 Thomas Stewart (GBr) Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes
68 Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:06:31
69 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Direct Energie 0:07:09
70 Cormac McGeough (Irl) Evopro Racing 0:08:03
71 Tobias Mørch Kongstad (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team 0:10:38
72 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
73 Pierre Gouault (Fra) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
74 Samuel Leroux (Fra) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
75 Abram Stockman (Bel) Tarteletto-Isorex 0:11:17
76 Rudy Barbier (Fra) Israel Cycling Academy 0:11:18
77 Boris Vallee (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
78 Lorrenzo Manzin (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
79 Emiel Vermeulen (Bel) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
80 Ludwig De Winter (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
81 Lukas Spengler (Swi) Wallonie Bruxelles
82 Emils Liepins (Lat) Wallonie Bruxelles
83 Ryan Christensen (NZl) Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes
84 Mathias Norsgaard Jørgensen (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
85 Julien Duval (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
86 Filippo Fortin (Ita) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
87 Sergio Rodriguez Reche (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
88 Florian Hudry (Fra) Interpro Cycling Academy 0:13:24
DNF Dominic Mestre (Por) Evopro Racing
DNF Oliver Wood (GBr) Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes
DNF Maris Bogdanovics (Lat) Interpro Cycling Academy
DNF Yuki Ishihara (Jpn) Interpro Cycling Academy
DNF Simon Jones (USA) Interpro Cycling Academy
DNF Gauthier Navarro (Fra) Interpro Cycling Academy
DNF Yoann Paillot (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
DNF Rory Townsend (Irl) Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes
DNF Alex Paton (GBr) Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes
DNF Maxime Vantomme (Bel) Tarteletto-Isorex
DNF Jonathan McEvoy (GBr) Madison Genesis
DNF Joseph Laverick (GBr) Madison Genesis
DNF Richard Handley (GBr) Madison Genesis
DNF Matthew Holmes (GBr) Madison Genesis
DNF Joey Walker (GBr) Madison Genesis
DNF Jelle Mannaerts (Bel) Tarteletto-Isorex
DNF Pierre Barbier (Fra) Natura4Ever-Roubaix-Lille Metropole
DNF Romain Feillu (Fra) St Michel-Auber 93
DNF Michael Cuming (GBr) Madison Genesis
DNF Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Direct Energie
DNF Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Daniel Hoelgaard (Nor) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Kévin Geniets (Lux) Groupama-FDJ Continental
DNF Julian Fernando Cardona Henao (Col) Betplay Cycling Team
DNF Leonardo Fedrigo (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
DNF Mattia Viel (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
DNF Jérémy Leveau (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
DNF Fabien Schmidt (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
DNF Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
DNF Axel Journiaux (Fra) Direct Energie
DNF Harrison Sweeny (Aus) Evopro Racing
DNF Mikel Aristi Gardoki (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
DNF Mario Gonzalez Salas (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
DNF Garikoitz Bravo Oiarbide (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
DNF Oscar Rodriguez Garaicoechea (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
DNF Edwin Avila (Col) Israel Cycling Academy
DNF Omer Goldstein (Isr) Israel Cycling Academy
DNF Nicolai Philip Brochner Nielsen (Den) Riwal Readynez Cycling Team
DNF Maxime Cam (Fra) Vital Concept-B&B Hotel
DNF Franklin Six (Bel) Wallonie Bruxelles
DNF Tom Devriendt (Bel) Wanty-Gobert
DNF Aaron Kearney (Irl) Evopro Racing
DNF Julien Trarieux (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
DNS Samuel Ponce Alvarez (And) Interpro Cycling Academy