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2022 Classic Loire-Atlantique (1.1), France

22nd edition: Saturday, March 19, 2022
Complete results

Classic Loire-Atlantique historic results | 2021 edition | 2023 edition

11 x 16.8 km (16.6 km?) circuits totaling 182.8 km, starting and ending at La Haye-Fouassière

The 16.8 km circuit. The riders will do this loop 11 times.

Weather at the start/finish city of La Haye-Fouassière at 1:00 PM, local time: 14C (58F), sunny, with the wind from the east at 16 km/hr (10 mph). No rain is forecast.

Anthony Perez just beats Lewis Askey. Team Cofidis photo.

Bill & Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, 2020: The Tour During Covid-19, Better Late Than Never is available as an audiobook here. For the Kindle eBook version, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

The race: 109 riders began the race about 12:30 PM.

Here's a machine-translation of the race report from winner Anthony Perez's Team Cofidis:

It was a finish for tough guys and Anthony Perez was able to give the best at the end of a particularly controlled race. This Saturday, on the roads of La Haye-Fouassière on the occasion of the 4th stage of the Coupe de France, the whole team was particularly enterprising. They did their best to control the first breakaway, like Eddy Finé and Thomas Champion. Then, three laps from the finish (nearly 45 km), Anthony Perez managed to join a group of around fifteen riders who were able to get ahead of the peloton.

The Toulousain attacked almost 3 km from the finish before launching the sprint and crossing the line as the winner. Anthony Perez thus returns to victory, he who had not lifted his arms for two years in Grasse during the 1st stage of the Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var.

He thus offers himself the 4th victory of his career since his professional debut. Anthony is the 4th team rider to raise his arms this year after Bryan Coquard (2 successes), Benjamin Thomas (1) and Max Walscheid, winner last Thursday. This is therefore the 6th success of the team, enough to motivate the troops before the many deadlines that are announced in the coming days.

Anthony PEREZ (1st): "I was lucky to be protected by my teammates for a large part of the race. It was a wear and tear race and at the start, we rode well to control the breakaway, at the image of Thomas Champion. When a group came out, I tried to be present. I was a little lonely and you had to be smart. As the finish approached, I followed the blows because I thought back to the scenario of Warren Barguil's victory in the same place during the 2019 French championship. good to win back! I like this race a lot and I'm happy to add my name to its record. Tomorrow, at the GP of Cholet, we'll all try to overtake it!"

Jean-Luc JONROND, sporting director: "We did a lot of collective work controlling the first breakaway, in particular with Thomas Champion who did not count his efforts. With 3 laps to go, around 45 km, Anthony came out in a group of breakaways. We were not the best represented team in this group and he maneuvered well by saving his cartridges until the end. 'Antho' knew how to remain calm, he tried a shot at 3 km from the finish then ran very well to win. With the fine performances of Max Walscheid (2nd and 1st), we continue to ride on a good dynamic. This is very good news for Anthony who is reconnecting with the success and thus demonstrates that he has fully recovered since the end of Tirreno-Adriatico"

Complete Results:

182.8 kilometers raced at an average speed of 42.802 km/hr

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