A first contact without incidents or breakdowns at Bretagne but also without options to dispute
Tour de Bretaña
Stage 1: Chateaubriant-Louisfert (159,8 km)
The Tour of Bretagne 2018 started this Wednesday with a first stage of almost 160 km with a final in Louisfert that was resolved in the sprint, with victory for the Norwegian Herman Dahl and the Austrian Patrick Gamper as the best member of the Polartec-Kometa, finishing in 37th position. Two places behind him (39th) finished Miguel Ángel Ballesteros. Dahl is the first leader of the Breton race.
The opening day was marked by the escape of Italian Edoardo Affini (Seg Racing), Norwegian Henrik Evensen (Joker Icopal) and Briton Owen James (Côtes d´Armor), who rode at the top of the race for many kilometres with a lead that was never more than two and a half minutes due to the commitment and control of Selle Italia at the front of the pack.
The trio would manage to reach the first step by finish, about 20 kilometres from the end, with a margin of 43 seconds, but it would not take long to decompose due to the perseverance of an Affini that would stand out for a few more kilometres until its definitive neutralisation, after 135 km of adventure, and within the last ten kilometres where some subsequent attempt to avoid a massive arrival would take place, such as that of Corentin Ermenault.
“Matteo Moschetti couldn’t get involved in the finish as we wanted him to because he was locked up and in the final circuit, complicated and with quite narrow parts, it wasn’t easy to get back on track. Tomorrow will be another day and we must be pleased that we have not had any falls or mechanical breakdowns, nor have any of our own lost time. So, on that side, and within what is possible, everything has gone well”, explains the director Jesús Hernández. The Italian sprinter of Polartec-Kometa finally finished in 51st place.
This Thursday will be the second longest stage of the race, 180 km from Louisfert to Plougoumelen.
(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)
? Philippe Priser
