News: Deignan Wins GP Ploauy

After recent setbacks due to illness and crashes, Lizzie Deignan fought back through the rain to claim her first victory of the year at the Women’s World Tour classic and her third in the event. British rider Lizzie Banks (Équipe Paule KA) was second.

News: Deignan Wins GP Ploauy

Trek Segafredo press release

After recent setbacks due to illness and crashes, Lizzie Deignan fought back through the breton rain to claim her first victory of the year at the Women’s World Tour classic and her third in the event. British rider Lizzie Banks (Équipe Paule KA) was second.

Pic: Getty Images

A combination of a rolling course, constant drizzle and a fast pace created a high rate of attrition, as many riders fell out of contention throughout the 101-kilometer race. Many teams were keen to make the race hard, including Trek-Segafredo. Trixi Worrack, Ruth Winder and Tayler Wiles all pushed the pace and launched attacks whilst Anna Plichta worked to make sure the Team didn’t miss any moves. Elisa Longo Borghini and Lizzie Deignan kept their powder dry, patiently waiting to make their move.

Deignan bridged across to an attack from British compatriot Lizzy Banks (Equipe Paule Ka) with 32 kilometers to go. The British duo worked well together over the rain-soaked course as a strong chase group formed behind, including the ever-present threat of Annemiek van Vleuten. Longo Borghini was always alert to the danger and diligently followed repeated attacks from the world champion. Eventually, the pursuit behind stalled as Longo Borghini ran interference and the other members of the group were unable to form a consistent and cohesive chase.

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The time gap to the two Lizzies surged after the momentum was lost behind. With five kilometers left to race their lead, was unassailable, leading to a two-up sprint between the two Brits. Deignan shot past Banks to comfortably win the jump for the line, taking her win tally at this race to three (2015, 2017, 2020); thereby making Deignan the most successful rider in the GP Plouay’s 19-year history.

“I’m delighted, it’s been a difficult season for everybody so far and we’ve had a lot of bad luck in the first few races. It’s been clear to me that we’ve had the strongest team in all the races and finally the luck was on our side. We had the numbers and used that advantage early. I attacked off the back of some attacks from the other girls, and I was able to get some space and I knew the rest of the team was backing me up behind. All I had to do was put my head down and try to get to the finish line first, and we did, so I’m really happy. Plouay is a really nice race and I always seem to do well here. The rain came which was an extra bonus for me, finally no more sweating in the heat for me! I’m really, really happy and grateful to the whole team for their effort,” reflected Deignan.

Lizzy Banks on the Attack
Lizzy Banks and Lizzie Deignan escaped with 35km to go, and rode together ahead of the field, where they had carved out an advantage that hovered around one minute over the chasing peloton. Over the last 15km, the field put down the hammer and ten riders led the charge to try and reel in the leading duo. However, the two British riders worked well together and the advantage extended again with only 6km to the finish line.

The chasers were ultimately unable to catch up. In the sprint into Plouay, Lizzy was pipped to the line by the Trek-Segafredo rider Deignan, a former world champion no less.

After the race, Banks remarked: “I’m thrilled with today’s result. Since Paule Ka has come on board as our title partner, the team has shown such great potential, with two podiums in the past two WorldTour races.”

“Performances such as these show that this squad of quite young riders has very exciting potential. What today demonstrates is that everyone in the team gets their chance, that we’re fighters, and that we deserve to be in the WorldTour. We raced aggressively today, and the weather conditions were favourable, because I really like riding in the rain. In terms of the key moves, Marlen put in a strong attack, and when she came back, I countered it”.

“Jip van den Bos and Lizzie Deignan followed. Eventually it was just me and Lizzie, and we worked really well together. I’m delighted about her win, although of course I would have liked to win myself! But I’m really happy with this second place. All in all, it was a great day out for the team, we worked well together and I’m really grateful to all the riders and staff for their efforts.”

1. Lizzie Deignan
2. Elizabeth Banks
3. Chiara Consonni

39. Danielle Christmas
56. Abby-Mae Parkinson
63. Anna Henderson
68. Alice Barnes
71. Annabel Fisher
76 finishers