Classic Lorient proved to be a long and demanding day of racing, with the riders covering 172 kilometres around Plouay before finishing on a local circuit. A breakaway spent much of the day up the road, while Eleonora Ciabocco remained well positioned in the peloton as the bunch gradually grew smaller.
Once the breakaway was caught, several attacks followed from the reduced peloton, but each move was neutralised and the race repeatedly came back together. With nobody able to make the difference in the closing kilometres, the result would be decided in a group sprint. Ciabocco positioned herself well behind the wheel of Mischa Bredewold and launched her sprint early, giving everything all the way to the finish. The Italian crossed the line in a strong seventh place.
After the race, Ciabocco reflected: “Today was a really long race. Our first goal was to be in the breakaway, but it was really challenging to follow the attacks and unfortunately we missed that opportunity. Once the peloton started chasing, the pace was high, but I managed to stay in a good position and tried to save as much energy as possible. On the final lap, I tried to attack a few times, but with teams controlling the race for the sprint, I couldn’t get away. In the last kilometre, I saw Mischa Bredewold and decided to follow her. She went quite early, but I was in a good position and was able to move up with her. I’m not really a sprinter, though, and it was a very long sprint, so in the end I’m happy with seventh place. My feeling on the bike was much better today, which gives me a lot of motivation. I really struggled during the Tour de France, so I was hoping for a good race today because it was important for my morale. I’m happy with the result. I still have a lot of work to do for the final races of the season, but this was at least a good step forward compared to my last races in what has been a pretty unlucky season.”