Benoit Cosnefroy pounced for his first WorldTour win on Sunday edging world champion Julian Alaphilippe after a long breakaway in Bretagne Classic.
You can rewatch 2021 Bretagne Classic HERE
Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar was in the breakaway but was dropped with 45km remaining as Alaphilippe set a blistering pace in a 65km attack in the French classic.
In the sprint for the victory, Cosnefroy held off his breakaway companions – Deceuninck-Quick-Step duo Alaphilippe and Mikkel Honore – to claim the biggest win of his career.
“I’m really happy, it’s my first WorldTour win,” Cosnefroy said at the finish. “I’ve been waiting for it so of course, it’s brilliant. It was a really exciting race today. It was just me against the two Deceuninck guys at the end. I knew I felt good that I could go with Julian when he attacked. Of course, it’s a different sprint here. I knew I could do something, I was confident.”
“I also played my card when I was at the front but I did collaborate with them, I didn’t just leave them to ride,” Cosnefroy said. “I tried to attack and I would have hoped to go [alone] with Julian, but in the end, I was happy to win it how I did. With me, Honore, and Julian there is no problem at all. We are just representing our own jerseys – that’s racing, there is no personal problem there. I was a bit unhappy at the time but that’s just racing.”
@BenoitCosnefroy s'impose au sprint sur #BretagneClassic face à @alafpolak1 et @MikkelHonore !
Il succès à @chava_sylvain, dernier vainqueur français en 2014. #cyclisme #GPPlouay pic.twitter.com/soVOtUW0ml— Les Rois du Peloton (@LRoisDuPeloton) August 29, 2021
