Giorgia Vettorello from the BePink-Gold team was the winner of the fifth Kreiz Breizh Élites Féminin race. Part of the Coupe de France, the main domestic cycling competition in France, it set off from Callac and finished in Pabu. Raced over a distance of 139.3 kilometres, the route featured 6 local laps around Pabu.
The peloton split in half before the live coverage began, with a strong front group sitting around 90 seconds of the rest of the bunch. Despite almost being able to chase back on, the solid pace of the front group broke the back of the chase and it fell back. There were plenty of attacks from the front group, with Valentina Basilico the most successful for a time.
As the hilly lap took its toll, 4 riders went clear. They were Barbara Malcotti, Debora Silvestri, Quinty Schoens and Giorgia Vettorello. The gap hovered around 20 seconds for a couple of laps but again the consistent pace at the front of the race again broke the chase. With 4 of the strongest teams represented up front, there wasn’t enough firepower to bring it back.
It was set for a strong finale and uphill sprint for the final kilometre but a corner at the base saw Debora Silvestri crash and Barbara Malcotti have to take evading action onto the grass verge. Giorgia Vettorello sensed her moment and attacked hard with Quinty Schoens unable to quite close the gap again.
Vettorello celebrated her first UCI victory on the line, with Schoens and a recovering Malcotti making up the podium.
2023 Kreiz Breizh Elites Féminin result
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Main photo credit: Gus Sev
