Sylvain Chavanel took his first ever victory in a WorldTour classic when he emerged as the strongest in the GP Plouay. Having entered the race in great form, the Frenchman did everyhing perfectly in a race he has actually never been very fond of.

Sylvain Chavanel is driven by the desire to overcome all challenges.  After the six-time French time trial champion succeeded in winning the time trial and subsequently the overall classification of the Tour du Poitou-Charentes last week, Chavanel offered IAM Cycling its 14th win of the season, and more importantly its first success in a WorldTour classic. 

At Plouay, formerly known as the GP Ouest-France, Chavanel managed to win the sprint against the Italian Andrea Fedi and his French compatriots Arthur Vichot and Cyril Gautier.  This second WorldTour victory comes just over five months since Matteo Pelucchi won the second stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico on March 13th, which was the team’s first ever WorldTour victory.   
 
As the oldest winner of the GP de Plouay since 1948, the 35-year-old Chavanel was a very happy man celebrating the victory with his teammates on the IAM Cycling bus. 

“I had a fantastic week.  Morale is really high.  I never particularly liked this classic before, but in the end I waited until the last possible moment and then everything went perfectly.  There was a tailwind and I decided to launch my sprint from a distance.  No one could come past me.  Success was on my side.  Sometimes that is what you need.  Cycling is anything but an exact science.”
 
At least as happy as his rider, Eddy Seigneur, the directeur sportif for IAM Cycling, stressed the qualities and merits of the winner. 

“Sylvain has managed to implement the strategy that we devised this morning in the briefing.  Riding intelligently, he stayed sheltered from the wind before producing his powerful effort.  And we have already shown quite recently at Poitou-Charentes, and earlier in the year at 4 Days of Dunkirk, that an in-form Chavanel is almost unbeatable in a sprint like this. 

"With this victory in a classic WorldTour event, it is a great confirmation for the IAM Cycling team, which so obviously suffered at the Tour du Limousin, that the guys were able to react this well.  I am proud of them and it gives me great pleasure.  In this kind of form, Sylvain can still look to shine at the Tour of Britain, which starts next Sunday.  We will take it day by day.”