The 2021 Bretagne Classic Ouest–France is a

road cycling Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling in which cyclists ride on paved roadways. It includes recreational, racing, commuting, and utility cycling. As users of the road, road cyclists are generally expected to obey the same laws a ...

one-day race The classic cycle races are the most prestigious one-day professional road cycling races in the international calendar. Some of these events date back to the 19th century. They are normally held at roughly the same time each year. The five most ...

that took place on 29 August 2021 in the region of

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

in northwestern France. It was the 85th edition of the Bretagne Classic Ouest–France and the 25th event of the

2021 UCI World Tour The 2021 UCI World Tour was a series of races that included twenty-nine road bicycle racing, road cycling events throughout the 2021 in men's road cycling, 2021 cycling season. The tour started with the opening stage of the 2021 UAE Tour, UAE To ...

. The race started and ended in

Plouay Plouay (; ) is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. Plouay hosts the GP Ouest-France and the GP de Plouay, annual cycling races (a men's and women's race, respectively). It was also the location of the UCI ...

, featuring a hilly and undulating course with of elevation gain. The first half of the race saw riders head west out of Ploauy and ride through

Scaër Scaër (; ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. Population Inhabitants of Scaër are called in French ''Scaërois''. Scaër's population peaked at 7,838 in 1946 and has since declined to 5,245 in 2020 ...

on the way to

Douarnenez Douarnenez (, ; meaning ''douar'' (land) ''an enez'' (the island) or land of the island), is a commune in the French department of Finistère, region of Brittany, northwestern France. It is located at the mouth of the Pouldavid River, an estua ...

along the Atlantic coast. Once there, the course turned back east towards Ploauy and once again passed through Scaër to form a rough figure eight. On the way back to Ploauy after passing through Scaër for the second time, riders ascended ''Saoutalarin'', the race's only gravel climb. The race concluded with a finishing circuit in and around Ploauy. The last marked climb, the ''Bosse Pont-Neuf'', crested with to go before a slight descent into the final kilometre, with the final being slightly uphill to the finish line.

Teams

All nineteen

UCI WorldTeam A UCI WorldTeam (2015–present), previously UCI ProTeam (2005–2014), is the term used by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to name a cycling team of the highest category in professional road bicycle racing, road cycling, the UCI World Tou ...

s and five UCI ProTeams made up the twenty-four teams that participated in the race. Of these teams, only four did not field a full squad of seven riders. , , and each raced with six riders. originally planned on withdrawing from the race after a

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

case in the team; however, the day before the race, they decided to enter with just five riders. In total, 163 riders started the race, of which only 96 finished. UCI WorldTeams * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * UCI ProTeams * * * * *

Result

References

Sources

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bretagne Classic Ouest-France, 2021 Bretagne Classic Ouest-France Bretagne Classic Ouest-France

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...