Molenaar and the Rockets impress in Finistère — but Barrenetxea just pips them to the win

The Tour du Finistère has been won by Jon Barrenetxea. The Movistar rider edged out Dutchman Alex Molenaar in a gruelling uphill sprint. Unibet Rose Rockets also had an impressive showing: Clément Venturini finished third and Lander Loockx fourth.

Racing has been going on in Italy and Hungary this week — but in France, as ever, there is barely a weekend off throughout the year. In Quimper, it was the turn of the Tour du Finistère, a fine one-day race in Brittany. With sweeping circuits through the Breton countryside and a finishing circuit through the city itself, the course offered plenty of climbing and a succession of short, punchy ascents.

Before the real difficulty arrived, five riders made the break. The continental teams made their presence felt in the early move, while Cofidis controlled the peloton from behind. The French squad had Bryan Coquard as one of the top favourites for the win — though he would need to survive a difficult finale. The specialists, meanwhile, were doing everything to exhaust the sprinters before the line.

David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ United) tried exactly that, accelerating with 50 kilometres to go. He couldn't get away, but it was the first move of a nervous phase. The high tempo in the peloton rapidly ate into the break's lead.

Cooperation in the front group consequently fell apart. In the end it was Clément Davy (Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur) who launched a solo attack. Only his compatriot Léandre Huck (Van Rysel Roubaix) was able to answer.

With only thirty seconds on the peloton — and escaping from the bunch still proving impossible — the duo entered the final fifteen kilometres. Davy and Huck fought their corner and with ten kilometres to go had surrendered just five seconds.

Even so, the two brave attackers could not derail the peloton's plans. At seven kilometres from the finish they were reeled in by the bunch, where Cofidis had a great many riders placed prominently at the front.

Not every rider accepted a sprint finish as their fate — but the pace was simply too high to ride clear. And so the fast men positioned themselves in the technical final kilometres for a gruelling uphill sprint in Quimper.

Notably, Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) selflessly gave up his own chances in the closing kilometres, riding himself out at the front for a teammate. But Cofidis lost momentum in the hard final kilometre, at which point Venturini of Unibet Rose Rockets launched an attack. He couldn't get clear, however.

In the sprint itself, Jon Barrenetxea (Movistar) was narrowly the quickest, with Dutch rider Alex Molenaar in second. Venturini still managed to cross the line third after his attack, and his teammate Loockx finished just off the podium in fourth.