Newly upgraded to Pro Continental level, ONE Pro Cycling, the first ever British team with this status, claimed its first major victory with Marten Mortensen and Peter Williams finishing first and second of the Tro Bro Leon – the Breton race that used 31.9km of graveled roads at the extreme west of the European continent. Local squad Fortuneo-Vital Concept placed Florian Vachon in third.
"I didn't necessarily expect to win this race but you always start a race with the hope of winning it," Mortensen told Cyclingnews after the finish. "But the way we rode as a team made it possible and I had the legs! I crashed after 90km but it didn't affect me. Being away with two French riders in the finale [Vachon and FDJ's Laurent Pichon], since they didn't work with me, I decided to try by myself because there was a chasing group behind."
The leading trio was formed in the last 20 kilometres of racing after a group of 10 riders finally emerged with Sébastien Minard (AG2R-La Mondiale), Mikhel Raïm (Cycling Academy), Jordan Levasseur (Armée de Terre), Baptiste Planckaert (Wallonie-Bruxelles), Dimitri Claeys (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Yohan Gène (Direct Energie), Mortensen, Williams, Pichon and Vachon.
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Mortensen attacked the two Frenchmen three times but he was yet to outsprint them while the chasing group was coming across, which allowed Williams to take the second place. Three years ago, FDJ captured the whole podium with Francis Mourey, Johan Le Bon and Anthony Geslin but a 1-2 had never been seen since the inception of the Tro Bro Leon as an amateur race in 1984 [it became a pro event in 2000 with the young Samuel Sanchez finishing second for Euskadi].
"We've been going well all day," Williams commented. "We've always had guys at the front. Towards the end we were the two of us. With 250 metres to go, I accelerated to take second place. It's pretty amazing. This is the first big win for our team and it happens in such great race. We've done similar races on the British scene last year but with the big boys here, it's another level. We're getting there!"
"It's always nice to win a race," Mortensen echoed. "Early this year we've showed that we're a pretty good team. This race is not an easy one but it's really special. It wasn't new to me and I've also done Paris-Roubaix sometimes. We also have the GP Herning that is a bit similar in Denmark."
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