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.
