The route covered 173 kilometres through Brittany around Plouay – very little of it was truly flat. Yet once again this year, the climbs proved not challenging enough to allow a group to build up a sufficient lead. Although one or two attacks in the final kilometres looked promising, the leading group completed the last four kilometres together.

“A huge thank you to my team,” was the first thing Balsamo wanted to say, as her team had kept the peloton together in the final. “Once we’d got through the last climb, we went all out for the sprint. On the climb, I just kept my eyes on the rear wheel in front of me because it was so tough. And at the finish, I never stopped believing, even though Mischa had already opened up a gap, because I knew the last 50 metres are really, really tough.”

For Balsamo, it was her sixth win of the season, four of which she had secured at the Giro d’Italia.

Classic Lorient Agglomération – Results 2026

How the 2026 Classic Lorient Agglomération went

On the classic route, with around 2,200 metres of climbing, the early breakaway group built up a massive lead of up to seven minutes. Seven women, led by the Olympic silver medallist in the time trial in Paris, Anna Henderson (Lidl – Trek), dictated the pace ahead of the peloton right up until the final circuit.

With 55 kilometres to go, the breakaway group – now down to six riders – still held a lead of 3 minutes 30 seconds. With 30 kilometres to go, it started to rain and their lead had shrunk to 40 seconds. At the back, attacks also began, though these were initially intended more as a test of the field’s strength. It was Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) who, 21 kilometres from the finish, really put the power into her pedalling and, within a few metres, closed the remaining gap to the leading group.

Franziska Koch (FDJ United – SUEZ) launched the counter-attack, but she too was unable to break away. However, the main group had been whittled down to just over 60 riders. The peloton therefore entered the final 16-kilometre lap as a tight group. Ten kilometres from the finish, Maeva Squiban (UAE Team L’IMAD) went on the attack. Behind the Frenchwoman, the field simply watched and waited. But on the Côte de Ty Marrec, the final climb some six kilometres from the finish, she was caught again.

Célia Gery (FDJ United – SUEZ) and Eleonora Gasparrini (UAE Team L’IMAD) made the next move, but this gap didn’t open up sufficiently either. Lidl – Trek controlled the final kilometres leading up to the sprint, which Bredewold then initiated very early on. Balsamo managed to close the gap she had initially opened up with a tremendous effort. Coming out of the slipstream, she was able to accelerate once more and take those decisive centimetres from Bredewold.