After seven days of racing, Leopard TOGT Pro Cycling returns home from the Tour de Bretagne with a stage win, strong performances... and mixed feelings.
The 2023 edition of the Tour de Bretagne started off very promising when Andreas Stokbro claimed second place in the bunch sprint finish on the opening stage. Later in the race, he showed his fast legs again in the fourth stage, when he took position five, being third in the peloton sprint.
In the meantime, the morale in the team was great. The reason? Mads Østergaard's win on day three! The 25-year-old Dane came already quite close during his attack on day one, but two days later he proved to be the strongest in the race. He outsprinted his fellow-attacker Simon Pellaud to reach glory in the streets of Le Quillio.
Leopard TOGT Pro Cycling showed to be amongst the best teams in the race, having full control over proceedings. With two stages to go, Andreas Stokbro was fifth in the GC, 45 seconds down to the race leader. The fight for the overall victory was fully on, but unfortunately a very big crash in the peloton caused the sixth stage to be cancelled and - worse - Andreas to pull out of the race.
Begin 1'06" down, Miguel Heidemann kept the morale and went into the attack on the closing day. Unfortunately, the German was unsuccesfull in his mission to save what could be saved.
All in all, the team is very happy to reach this level in a highly-rated race like the Tour de Bretagne. It is such a shame that the racing week had to end in such manner.
Results:
1. Simon Pellaud (SUI) 23:26:21
33. Miguel Heidemann (GER) + 1'06"
35. Robin Juel Skivild (DEN) s.t.
38. Mads Østergaard (DEN) + 2'19"
DNF. Nick van der Lijke, Emil Mielke Vinjebo & Andreas Stokbro
Stage win: Mads Østergaard
