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Like every year, on the last weekend of August the small Breton town of Plouay is the epicenter of the eyes of cycling fans, as it hosts both men's and women's WorldTour events, as well as junior and amateur races. They are the so-called 4 days of Plouay, an event with history that this year celebrates its 85th edition and that this time presents a starting lists full of stars, both in the men and women races.

Route and favorites Bretagne Classic -Ouest-France

The men's race presents a 251 km route, with more than 4000 meters of positive slope, in what is a constant up and down. From the start in Plouay, cyclists will reach the seaside town of Douarnenez before turning around and heading back to Plouay. The last 13 kilometers are in the final circuit, where the integrity of the women's race will take place and which presents three small climbs. Narrow roads and sections exposed to the Atlantic winds are characteristic of the race.

Tadej Pogačar (1200), João Almeida (1200), Wout Van Aert (1200) and Julian Alaphilippe (1000) start as the main favorites if the race is selective far from the finish line. If a larger group makes it to the circuit, Mads Pedersen (800), Giacomo Nizzolo (800), Andrea Vendrame (600), Bryan Coquard (600) or Van Aert himself are the fastest on paper. Other candidates who will play an underdog role are Warren Barguil (400), Tim Wellens (600), Alexey Lutsenko (800), Jonas Vingegaard (800), Benoit Cosnefroy (400), Diego Ulissi (1000), Michael Kwiatkowski (400) or Jakob Fuglsang (1000) to name a few, as the starting list is spectacular.

Route and favorites GP de Plouay -Lorient - Agglomération Trophée Ceratizit

The cyclists will have to complete 11 laps of the 13.6 km circuit, adding a total of 150 kilometers and more than 2000 meters of positive slope. The circuit has three small heights: Lezot (1.4 km at 3.9%), Toul el Len (0.5 km at 4.6%) and Pont-Neuf (1.5 km at 4.2%), so pure sprinters are likely to be ruled out for victory.

The main favorites are, once again, the great dominators of the women's calendar of recent years, the Dutch Anna Van der Breggen (1200), Marianne Vos (1200), Lorena Wiebes (1200), Amy Pieters (1000) and Demi Vollering (1000), the Italian Elisa Longo Borghini (1000), the Belgian Lotte Kopecky (1000) or the British Elisabeth Deignan (1000), who defends the title won in 2020.

Other applicants in a second level are Liane Lippert (800), Christine Majerus (800), Chantal Blaak (600), Leah Kirchmann (800), Juliette Labous (800), Elise Chabbey (800) or Elisa Balsamo (800). Shinning will be more complicated fore pure climbers such as Ashleigh Moolman-Passio (1000) or Katarzyna Niewiadoma (1000), since the route does not include long climbs that suite them.