Sunny 33°C await 108 riders in Northwestern France for 9 laps of racing through the hilly countryside.
Nevertheless, the bookmakers first and foremost favour sprinters Kennaugh and Feillu, but don't expect a lot of money in return when you bid on Ventoso either!





The latter part of the peloton isn't even moving when the first riders attack.
Pakthusov
Khviyuzau
Mainard
Reguigui
use the first slight descent to set off.





Warren Barguil decides not to appreciate the scenic landscape and goes into pursuit mode.





Vueling seems very happy with the current composition of the breakaway though and reels the Frenchman back in.
Meanwhile, the four riders at the front reach the most interesting part of the lap for the first time.





It doesn't seem like a difficult climb, but it is enough to nearly force a standstill in the peloton as riders even have to hit their brakes to level the speed difference.





The break's advantage hits 5 minutes as Popov has to call for the mechanics at the other end of the race.
No problem getting back in for him.





Federico Rocchetti goes down by the river. Does he recover or is one of Evian's options for the day already done?
He joins Popov and makes it back, but the consequences of the crash can't be evaluated yet.





The peloton goes through the finish area for the fourth time 8:30 minutes down. Vueling knows it's time to speed up to ensure Kennaugh doesn't have to face a huge tempo increase later on.





Duggan has a puncture (or did he actually just want to take a closer look at that nice girl there?), but joins the bunch again easily.





Next problem for a Sram rider as Smukulis punctures with 60k to go. The break's advantage is down to 4 minutes thanks to Vueling and Prio.





Not only does Smukulis get back to the front, he is even involved in the first attempt to surprise the leaders as he attacks together with Rybakov and de Maar! Impressive performance by the Latvian.





For the first time in hours, the pack sees the breakaway again as the group ahead forced Bpost to take over the major amount of work from Vueling.
Cousin leads the peloton 30 seconds behind the Smukulis group and 2 minutes behind the breakaway, where Pakthusov, by far the best puncheur, does not make any attempt to significantly increase the speed yet.





Just as I say that, he attacks! Two laps to go, and we are in for an exciting finish.





The remnants of the breakaway and the second group on the road merge soon after, decreasing the Ukrainian's advantage to 50 seconds with the bunch some 20 seconds further down.





Just as Pakthusov gets caught, Khviyuzau uses the rest of his energy to attack past.
De Maar and Smukulis join, as both can already feel the breath of everyone else in their necks. The attack goes nowhere though.





Said Metinvest rider is too exhausted from the day's efforts and is unattentive while going back into the field.
He goes down!





It's a huge pileup right behind the first positions of the bunch as bikes fly everywhere.





It's not only bikes though, as British champion Dowsett makes an impressive dive, only missing the river by a few metres! Therefore, the jury rates rather low:
1.5 2 0.5 1 1 0.5





The crash forces a massive split with less than 20 kilometres left to ride. Only 40-ish riders stay in the front group.
The biggest losers are
Dowsett
Sonnery Rocchetti Puusepp
Levarlet El Fares
Anderson Houle
Duggan
Capecchi
Van Hummel
Sobal
and Armee, who has to abandon the race.
Surprisingly few sprint favourites miss the split, but Evian is basically out of the race now.





Unimpressed from the action behind, the first sprint train forms. Van der Sande tries to lead Kennaugh (who just takes a pull), with Geschke, Trusov, Haussler, Caldeira and Kreder behind.
Ventoso and Feillu wait and position themselves a bit further to the right.





Meanwhile, Soupe loses contact together with a few helpers.





We go up the Côte de Ty Marrec for the last time today, and Sram takes the lead. No Haussler in sight though!
Feillu is actually the only sprinter visible in this shot as one of the two Bpost riders on the right side of your screen.





Geschke right in front of us leads the rest of the favourites, albeit already a bit far back.
The camera then focuses on Kennaugh and Ventoso. The Spaniard doesn't look too interested! Is he aware that this is the last lap?







Over the hill we go, and surprisingly without a further attack, especially considering we have guys like Hoogerland leading the group.
Behind Baugnies, the sprinters line up.

Feillu
Mironov
Geschke
Kreder
Kennaugh
Haussler
Ventoso is slightly to the right of that train.




Noone seems to want to go first here as we already approach the final corner with the finish banner already in sight! Geschke had enough and accelerates, as he knows it'd be difficult getting through everyone else in front later on with only 1.6k to go.





Geschke indeed takes the inner line, with Hoogerland, de Maar, Rybakov and Eichler still ahead.
Most of them seem to wait for their designated sprinter to pass though.





Geschke takes the lead, and only Kreder, Kennaugh and Haussler can follow him!





500 metres to go. Haussler cannot hold the Brit's wheel anymore, who looks to go around Kreder on the right. Kreder himself tries to pass Geschke.





Only a few metres left, and it will be incredibly close between those three!





Peter Kennaugh wins the GP Plouay! Kreder takes second by the slightest of margins. Can a three-way sprint finish be any closer?





Haussler takes fourth right behind the trio as Kennaugh cheers.





Eichler takes 5th to make it a good team result for Sram. Vitoria finishes right behind for an impressive 6th place for the Metinvest rider.
Hoogerland gets the best result for a pure puncheur in 7th, with a slightly disappointing Feillu and Tinkoff duo Kozontchuk and Kolobnev rounding out the Top 10. Ventoso finishes an atrocious 15th just ahead of team mate Caldeira.

1	Peter Kennaugh	Team Vueling Airlines	6h09'17
2	Michel Kreder	Swedbank-PEAB	s.t.
3	Simon Geschke	Rothaus - Aegon	s.t.
4	Heinrich Haussler	Sram-Riboxx Cycling Team	s.t.
5	Markus Eichler	Sram-Riboxx Cycling Team	s.t.
6	David Vitoria	Metinvest-Emirates	s.t.
7	Johnny Hoogerland	Swedbank-PEAB	s.t.
8	Romain Feillu	Team BPost	s.t.
9	Dmitri Kozontchuk	Tinkoff Bank - Rosneft OJSC	s.t.
10	Aleksandr Kolobnev	Tinkoff Bank - Rosneft OJSC	s.t.
11	Jérôme Baugnies	HTC Nieuwsblad	s.t.
12	Marc De Maar	HTC Nieuwsblad	s.t.
13	Alexander Rybakov	Tinkoff Bank - Rosneft OJSC	s.t.
14	Jérémy Roy	Alstom-RBC	s.t.
15	Francisco Ventoso	Prio - Porto	s.t.
16	Samuel Caldeira	Prio - Porto	s.t.
17	Nikolai Trusov	Tinkoff Bank - Rosneft OJSC	s.t.
18	Xavier Zabalo	Rothaus - Aegon	s.t.
19	Aleksandr Mironov	LukOil-Rostelekom	s.t.
20	Gatis Smukulis	Sram-Riboxx Cycling Team	s.t.
21	Jerome Cousin	Team BPost	s.t.
22	Tosh Van der Sande	Team Vueling Airlines	s.t.
23	Enrico Barbin	HTC Nieuwsblad	s.t.
24	Iljo Keisse	Sram-Riboxx Cycling Team	s.t.
25	Blel Kadri	Team Vueling Airlines	s.t.
26	Evgeni Popov	LukOil-Rostelekom	s.t.
27	Joeri Stallaert	Team BPost	s.t.
28	Francis De Greef	Team BPost	s.t.
29	Bruno Borges	Prio - Porto	s.t.
30	Tim Declerq	Team BPost	+ 2'14
31	Niels Scheunemann	Team Vueling Airlines	s.t.
32	Moreno Moser	Metinvest-Emirates	s.t.
33	Mathieu La Lavandier	Team BPost	s.t.
34	Geoffrey Soupe	Alstom-RBC	s.t.
35	Dominique Rollin	Alstom-RBC	s.t.
36	Ricardo Ferreira	Prio - Porto	s.t.
37	Glenn Likhaya	Swedbank-PEAB	s.t.
38	Kanstantsin Khviyuzau	Team Credexbank	+ 3'43
39	Jerome Mainard	Evian-MIAT	s.t.
40	Youcef Reguigui	Jaguar - Eritel	s.t.
41	Yauhen Sobal	LukOil-Rostelekom	+ 5'00
42	Ryan Anderson	Alstom-RBC	s.t.
43	Alex Dowsett	Jaguar - Eritel	s.t.
44	Hugo Houle	Alstom-RBC	s.t.
45	Eros Capecchi	Metinvest-Emirates	s.t.
46	Lars Ytting Bak	Team Vueling Airlines	s.t.
47	Aurélien Passeron	Rothaus - Aegon	s.t.
48	Valentin Iglinski	Rothaus - Aegon	s.t.
49	Paul Voss	Rothaus - Aegon	s.t.
50	Guillaume Levarlet	Bouygues Telecom	s.t.
51	Warren Barguil	Bouygues Telecom	s.t.
52	Manuel Ortega	Japanese - Korean Cycling Project	s.t.
53	Federico Rocchetti	Evian-MIAT	s.t.
54	Cédric Pineau	Alstom-RBC	s.t.
55	Oleg Chuzhda	Team Credexbank	s.t.
56	Artem Ovechkin	Tinkoff Bank - Rosneft OJSC	s.t.
57	Timothy Duggan	Sram-Riboxx Cycling Team	s.t.
58	Jos Pronk	Swedbank-PEAB	s.t.
59	Lionel Coutinho	Prio - Porto	s.t.
60	Jesus Tendero	Rothaus - Aegon	s.t.
61	Joon Yong Seo	Japanese - Korean Cycling Project	s.t.
62	Kenny Van Hummel	Swedbank-PEAB	s.t.
63	Mikhail Timochine	LukOil-Rostelekom	s.t.
64	Christoff Van Heerden	Rothaus - Aegon	s.t.
65	Aleksandr Serov	LukOil-Rostelekom	s.t.
66	Blaz Bogataj	LukOil-Rostelekom	s.t.
67	Adrien Petit	Evian-MIAT	s.t.
68	Huub Duyn	Sram-Riboxx Cycling Team	s.t.
69	Julien El Fares	Bouygues Telecom	s.t.
70	Martin Puusepp	Evian-MIAT	s.t.
71	Arman Kamyshev	Team Vueling Airlines	s.t.
72	Danilo Di Luca	Japanese - Korean Cycling Project	s.t.
73	Anders Lund	Swedbank-PEAB	s.t.
74	Souheil Khederi	Jaguar - Eritel	s.t.
75	Pavel Korzh	Tinkoff Bank - Rosneft OJSC	s.t.
76	Gyung Gu Jang	Japanese - Korean Cycling Project	s.t.
77	Stanislau Bazhkou	Team Credexbank	s.t.
78	Kenneth Vanbilsen	HTC Nieuwsblad	s.t.
79	Robert Retschke	Team Credexbank	s.t.
80	Stefano Locatelli	Bouygues Telecom	s.t.
81	Joeri Adams	Bouygues Telecom	s.t.
82	Maani Altanzul	Evian-MIAT	s.t.
83	Artjom Timofeev	Tinkoff Bank - Rosneft OJSC	s.t.
84	Issiaka Cisse	Jaguar - Eritel	s.t.
85	Ian Boswell	HTC Nieuwsblad	s.t.
86	Bart Wellens	LukOil-Rostelekom	s.t.
87	Natnael Berhane	Jaguar - Eritel	s.t.
88	Lawrence Warbasse	Sram-Riboxx Cycling Team	s.t.
89	Patrick Lane	HTC Nieuwsblad	s.t.
90	Maxime La Lavandier	Team BPost	s.t.
91	Luis Afonso	Prio - Porto	s.t.
92	Bryan Coquard	Evian-MIAT	s.t.
93	Adrian Honkisz	Team Credexbank	s.t.
94	Sho Hatsuyama	Japanese - Korean Cycling Project	s.t.
95	Alexei Tsikhanau	Team Credexbank	s.t.
96	Christopher De Souza	Alstom-RBC	s.t.
97	Davide Martinelli	Metinvest-Emirates	s.t.
98	Ilia Koshevoy	Team Credexbank	s.t.
99	Antonio Carvalho	Prio - Porto	s.t.
100	Blaise Sonnery	Evian-MIAT	s.t.
101	Dries Beatse	Bouygues Telecom	s.t.
102	Elias Afewerki	Jaguar - Eritel	s.t.
103	Oleksandr Grygorenko	Metinvest-Emirates	s.t.
104	Tomohiro Hayakawa	Japanese - Korean Cycling Project	s.t.
105	Christian Bertilsson	Swedbank-PEAB	+ 7'07
106	Kenji Itami	Japanese - Korean Cycling Project	s.t.
107	Salvatore Puccio	Team Vueling Airlines	s.t.
108	Anatoliy Pakthusov	Metinvest-Emirates	s.t.
109	Marlen Zmorka	Metinvest-Emirates	+ 8'10
110	Charles Anguilet	Jaguar - Eritel	s.t.
111	Jean-François Camier	Bouygues Telecom	s.t.