A week after the European Championships on the road the Liv Racing Xstra riders are back in their purple colors. Saturday the Classic Lorient Agglomération – Trophée Ceratizit – better known as the GP de Plouay – takes place on a new parcours.
The GP de Plouay is always full of action. The organizers made some changes to the parcours this year. The race over 159,5 kilometres includes a new large 127 km loop followed by 2,5 laps of 11,7 km around Plouay. In each lap the riders have to climb Le Lezot (900 m, 5.5%) and La Bosse de Rostervel (1,5 km, 4.5%). Just like the previous years a hard race is expected.
Liv Racing Xstra brings Thalita de Jong, Marta Jaskulska, Katia Ragusa, Quinty Ton, Silke Smulders and Sabrina Stultiens to the start line in Plouay.
De Jong had a busy schedule the past weeks. After the Tour de France Femmes she went home to take some rest and prepare for the upcoming races. A late call for the European championships changed those plans. “It was a little bit hectic. After the Tour de France I raced in some criteriums and I wanted to take some rest and do some good training for the next races afterwards. I had to change these plans after I was called up for the European Championships. That was a great experience to be there and race with the Dutch squad with the goal to take the title home. We succeeded in our goal and that was a fantastic feeling. Due to all the travelling I feel a little fatigued. It is nice to be back with the team here in Plouay however. It is my first time for me in Plouay, so that is already exciting. The parcours changed, but it still will be a hard race and the strongest riders will be in the front. We did a course recon today. The rest of the day we took it easy in order to rest up for tomorrow`s race. We are all committed to do a good race”, said De Jong.