Cyclingflash
Filippo Fiorelli delivers win for Visma | Lease a Bike in Tro Bro Léon

Filippo Fiorelli delivers win for Visma | Lease a Bike in Tro Bro Léon

Filippo Fiorelli has won Tro Bro Léon. The Italian from Visma | Lease a Bike crossed the finish line solo after a late attack. Alexis Renard (Cofidis) and Lewis Askey (NSN) finished second and third respectively.

The Tro Bro Léon covered over 200 kilometers. The French race is known for its unpaved sections in the Brittany region where the difference is usually made. With 2,000 meters of elevation gain, the race is anything but flat. A strong engine, explosiveness, and bike handling skills are therefore advantageous to win the race. Especially in the last 70 kilometers, the gravel sections come thick and fast. With Visma | Lease a Bike and UAE Emirates XRG at the start, the race also featured an excellent field. All the ingredients for a spectacle!

Shortly after the start, a breakaway of six formed including Daniel Cavia from Burgos Burpellet BH, Nil Gimeno and Sergio Romeo from Equipo Kern Pharma, Valentin Ferron from Cofidis, Joel Nicolau from Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, and Pierre Thierry from TotalEnergies. The breakaway gradually fragmented as the race went on, and with 67 kilometers remaining, the last escapee, Romeo, was caught. Shortly after, Belgian Jenthe Biermans of Cofidis and Alexys Brunel of TotalEnergies initiated the action.

Visma | Lease a Bike opens the finale
The duo soon managed to open a gap of around 30 to 40 seconds. Meanwhile, Uno-X Mobility controlled the breakaway from the peloton. The pair’s advantage started to shrink significantly and with about 40 kilometers to go, they were almost caught. At the same time, Hugo Hofstetter (NSN), a former winner and one of the favorites, got a flat tire. Shortly after, Axel Zingle from Visma | Lease a Bike appeared to open the finale on a short uphill section. Thanks to the Frenchman’s efforts, a lead group of around twenty riders formed.

With 33 kilometers remaining, a new attack came from Visma | Lease a Bike. This time it was Per Strand Hagenes who lit the fuse. The Norwegian was joined by Fred Wright of Pinarello-Q36.5, Benoit Cosnefroy from UAE Emirates XRG, Lewis Askey of NSN, and Paul Lapeira from Decathlon CMA CGM. The five worked well together and defended a 20-second lead over the chasers, including Rasmus Tiller, Zingle, and Clément Venturini. Groupama-FDJ and Uno-X Mobility, who had missed the move, took charge of the chase. Entering the final lap, the leaders’ advantage had increased slightly to 25 seconds.

All back together
The chasers were not done yet, as on the penultimate gravel section the gap suddenly closed rapidly. In the last few hundred meters of gravel, Wright attacked and succeeded in breaking up the small peloton once more. At the front, Visma | Lease a Bike was represented with three riders (Zingle, Hagenes, and Filippo Fiorelli). Cosnefroy and Askey were also back, along with Pierre Gautherat, Tiller, Venturini, and Alexis Renard. The chasers appeared decisively beaten and it looked set that the winner would come from this leading group.

Fiorelli then launched an attack and started the final section with a small advantage three kilometers from the finish. The Italian held on impressively and crossed the finish line about ten seconds ahead, while his teammates behind contained the chasing group. Fiorelli did not relinquish the lead and celebrated his first victory in the colors of the Dutch team. Renard won the sprint from the chasers ahead of Askey.