The Breton hill classic around Plouay was 228 kilometres long; a year ago, it had been decided in a sprint won by Arnaud De Lie. And this time, too, it looked for a long time as though it would end the same way. On the final ascent of the Côte de Ty Marrec, the race’s decisive climb, the leading group – which had included Herzog – was initially caught.

But the 21-year-old refused to admit defeat, put his foot down once more and moved to the front of the peloton, which had actually looked as though it was set to stay together at the critical point six kilometres from the finish. But Herzog kept pushing on and on, so that at the crest, around ten riders did manage to open up a small gap; however, this only grew larger on the flat section that followed, because there was uncertainty about the composition of the leading group and, consequently, who was responsible for the chase.

Aranburu secures the biggest victory of his career

From within the peloton, it was Aranburu who kicked into high gear on a small climb just before the final sprint and was never seen again. The 30-year-old Spaniard held on to his lead to claim the twelfth victory of his career – his third this year – at the finish line. And it is likely to be the most important of his career. At WorldTour level, he has also claimed stage victories in the Tour of the Basque Country.

“I’m delighted to be part of this incredible week for Cofidis,” said Aranburu, alluding to the fact that Bryan Coquard’s surprise victory the day before at the Vuelta “It wasn’t easy today and I’m absolutely delighted that I was able to bring the team’s efforts to a successful conclusion. “I think I found the right moment to launch my attack. But that only worked because we were already wide awake on the final climb.” With Dylan Teuns, Cofidis was the only team to have two riders in the final breakaway group.

Bretagne Classic – Results 2026

How the 2026 Bretgane Classic went

The male equivalent of the Women’s race the day before The race got off to a flying start around Plouay, with Markus Hoelgaard (Uno-X Mobility), Alexy Faure Prost (Team Picnic PostNL) and Sjoerd Bax (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team), who quickly built up a lead of three minutes. The gap remained at that level for many kilometres.

It was only when, with just over 100 kilometres to go, former Junior World Champion Emil Herzog (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe) and Tour de France breakaway king Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto Intermarché) managed to build up a lead of a few seconds with just over 100 kilometres to go, did the race situation break open. With 90 kilometres to go, the duo had closed the gap. However, the peloton had also closed the gap to just over a minute, although this widened again once the new leading group of five had formed.

Whilst Soudal Quick-Step and Alpecin - Premier Tech shared the lead, the riders had to contend with ever-changing road conditions as there was light rain falling intermittently along sections of the route. Things then got serious at the back of the peloton on the Côte de Marta. Led by Per Strand Hagenes (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), an increase in pace meant that, as the riders entered the circuit some 60 kilometres from the finish, the breakaway’s lead had shrunk to just 20 seconds.

Co-favourite Magnier takes a fall and is forced to withdraw

From this group, Liam Slock (Lotto Intermarché), Quinten Hermans (Pianrello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) and Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis) initially broke away, whilst other groups formed. Meanwhile, a crash in the peloton took Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step), one of the co-favourites, out of the race. He finished the race in an ambulance.

With 36 kilometres to go, as the race tackled the Côte de Ty Marrec for the second of four times – a 1,500-metre-long climb with a five per cent gradient that was likely to prove decisive – Veistroffer had dropped back from the lead group; shortly afterwards, Bax also fell behind. Meanwhile, two chasing groups were struggling to close the gap to the front. The peloton had fallen back to one and a half minutes behind once again.

One lap later, all the chasers were back in the main peloton, which had now closed the gap to 40 seconds. Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies), Jenno Berckmoes (Lotto Intermarché) and Louis Barré (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) then used the next surge to make a breakaway, but this was quickly countered. And so the group entered the final ascent of the Côte de Ty Marrec with a 20-second lead. That is where the breakaway attempt came to an end. The peloton, on the other hand, split into groups of about ten riders, with Herzog still among them. And the gap widened to as much as 16 seconds with three kilometres to go.

It was clear that the winner would come from this group. The two Frenchmen, Paul Lapeira (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Romain Gregoire (Groupama – FDJ United), were certainly among the favourites, but the big names such as Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin – Premier Tech), Laurence Pithie (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe) or the former winners Benoit Cosnefroy (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) and Marc Hirschi (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) had all failed to make the breakaway.

But even Lapeira and Gregoire were powerless to do anything in the end, as Aranburu’s early attack 1,100 metres from the finish line took everyone by surprise. Only Kamp tried to follow, but was unable to close the gap. From the group, Borgo then rode ahead of Herzog to take third place.