GP Ouest France - Plouay, 248.3km/154mi

By Cathy Mehl

Australian Matt Goss (HTC-Columbia) took the win in the GP Ouest France in Plouay, besting American Tyler Farrar of Garmin-Transitions.  Yoann Offredo (FdJ) took third in the 40-strong sprint for the one-day race in France.

“Ivan Rovny was in the break all day with eight other riders,” said Team Director Alain Gallopin.  “They were caught at 25K from the finish.  Another breakaway formed up with strong riders like Sylvain Chavanel, Leukemans and our own Haimar Zubeldia.  It was our goal to have a good result with Haimar and things looked good, but they were caught on the climb at 3K from the finish.”

Chavanel (Quick Step) led a four-man split followed by Zubeldia’s group who eventually bridged across to bring the total to eight.  With 10km to go the gap was 24-seconds and Euskaltel-Euskadi chased hard to bring them back.  The group was all together with 6km to go, setting up plenty of late-race attacks on the small, narrow roads.  Gaps opened up on the final climb of the Ty Marrec but the some-forty riders shut down all efforts and brought the front group to the line for the mass sprint.  Goss shot up the middle of the course, taking the win just ahead of Farrar.  Much later Frenchman Christophe Moreau (Caisse d’Epargne) rolled across the finish line waving farewell to the crowd and the peloton in his last race as a professional.

Haimar felt strong on the day 

Top Ten Results

1              Matthew Harley Goss (Aus) Team HTC - Columbia            6:37:53                   

2              Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin - Transitions                  

3              Yoann Offredo (Fra) Française Des Jeux                                 

4              Leonardo Fabio Duque (Col) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne                    

5              Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) BMC Racing Team                       

6              Peter Sagan (Svk) Liquigas-Doimo                             

7              Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini                        

8              Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team                             

9              Romain Feillu (Fra) Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team                                

10            Davide Appollonio (Ita) Cervelo Test Team

Team RadioShack Results

39           Haimar Zubeldia (Esp)

65           Markel Irizar (Esp) 0:00:57

137         Ivan Rovny (Rus)  0:07:40

144         Matthew Busche (USA)  0:09:20

145         Geoffroy Lequatre( Fra)

DNF        Daryl Impey

DNF        Sergio Paulinho

DNF        Yaroslav Popovych

Photos courtesy of Graham Watson