22/04/2025
What a fantastic Easter weekend at Penn Ar Bed Bro An Hirwazh UCI 2.1 in Bretagne.
After a pretty epic journey down there on Friday we spent the day doing a recon of the TT course in wind and rain! Fortunately on Saturday the weather cleared and it was warm and sunny for the 170+ starters who lined up for stage 1 - a 111km road race. It was a mixed bag for the team. Ed was suffering after a recent illness so DNF’d halfway in and Rocco had a pretty nasty crash on the final circuit which forced him to retire from the race. On the final KOM Oscar attacked the bunch to bridge across to a couple of breakaway riders and take 3rd place on the KOM, but the race came back together as it entered the final circuit. A group then got away from the bunch with Oscar managing to bridge across to join them before unfortunately being caught by the peloton with about 10k to go. They both finished with the leading group with Mak taking a superb 4th place on the line which earned him the right to wear the green jersey!
With Ed and Rocco both out we had 3 starters for stage 2 - a fast, flat 7.5km ITT. In blustery conditions the boys put in strong rides with Oscar 22nd in 09:52 putting him in 19th on GC. Ben on his first TT was 65th with 10:16 and Mak on his road bike was 80th with 10:26.
Stage 3 - a 120km road race - started down at the picturesque Saint-Mathieu lighthouse. The race was pretty much together until Oscar attacked on the climb out of La plage de Kerhornou with 80km to go and was joined by 3 others to form a break of 4 which built up a lead of over a minute as the race neared the final circuit at 30km to go. Without any Soudal Quickstep riders in the break it was always going to be tough and the peloton gradually reeled them in just before they hit the final circuit. Once together a strong group including a couple of SQS riders managed to get away and build up a sizable advantage to eventually take the win with Oscar and Mak finishing with the main bunch a couple of minutes behind.
The event was a great experience for the boys, they learnt a lot and have plenty of positives to take forward for the rest of the season.
Huge thanks to comite pennar bed, all their helpers, marshalls, motos, french cycling and UCI officials for putting on a first class and safe cycling event for these young riders. It really is exceptional! Special mention to David Fraser from Team Oxygene Ploudal Portsall for acting as official translator to help out the English speakers, it made a huge difference having him around to help us, especially with any questions/issues we had.
Also thanks as ever to our supporters: trainSharp Cycling VeloUK Sykes Harley-Davidson Secret Training
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