Veilleux crowned king of Brittany

AFP

David Veilleux secured the overall victory in the Mi-Aout Bretonne after some superb support work from his Europcar team-mates.

Following in the footsteps of this year's Tour de France runner-up Chris Froome – who won the Mi- Août Bretonne race in 2007 – David Veilleux secured both his first individual stage win and first overall win of the season last weekend over the undulating roads of Brittany.

The Canadian held on for the victory following his excellent breakaway win in the opening stage of the four-day race.

Foundations for the overall victory were laid on Thursday's opening 179km stage from Graces to Ploumagoar. Veilleux was part of an initial nine-man break that also included Europcar team-mate Bjorn Thurau.

The 24-year-old from Canada made his decisive attack on the penultimate climb of the day and went on to win the stage by 57 seconds over second-placed Thurau.

Veilleux rode the last 15km of the race on his own, with the peloton crossing the line just over three minutes in arrears to give the Canadian youngster a solid lead at the top of the GC.

Through the next three days of racing, Team Europcar rode as a strong collective for their man and managed to defend Veilleux's yellow jersey all the way to the finish. He won the overall by 57 seconds.

"David showed that he was very strong on day one of the race and then it was a case of showing our impressive collective strength," said directeur sportif Ismael Mottier.

"The guys rode as a unit for at least 160km for the next three days. On paper, we were the strongest team and so everyone was watching us. Luckily we delivered."

Mottier was pleased that Veilleux could finally take a first professional win in a stage race after his fine work for the team since joining Europcar in 2011. "David often works in the shadows and behind the scenes. He does not often have the chance to win a race and so he made the most of his opportunity," he said.

Meanwhile, Tour de France stage winner Pierre Rolland took third place in the last stage of the Tour de l'Ain in his first race since the Grande Boucle.

Fellow Tour stage winner, Thibaut Pinot of FDJ, took the victory in the mountainous stage, with Rolland leading a chasing group over the line 1:15 down. Europcar sprinter Sebastien Chavanel also finished third place in the bunch sprint at the end of stage two.