Commitment but no reward for Lidl-Trek at Classic Lorient Agglomération

In Saturday’s Classic Lorient Agglomération, Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) won the bunch sprint – but unfortunately for her and the team, it was a sprint for fourth place as Amber Kraak (FDJ-Suez), Chloé Dygert (Canyon-SRAM), and Liane Lippert (Movistar Team) had attacked on the final lap and held off the chasing peloton.

Ahead of the final, Lidl-Trek tried to make it a hard race in order to drop other sprinters, in particular Charlotte Kool (DSM-Firmenich PostNL), who could challenge Balsamo in a sprint. Lizzie Deignan and Elisa Longo Borghini both attacked from the peloton, attempting to form a strong breakaway. Their efforts were unsuccessful, so the team committed Deignan, Longo Borghini, and Lauretta Hanson to chasing down solo escapee Amber Kraak (FDJ-Suez) instead.