The opening stage of Tour de Bretagne saw Development Team dsm-firmenich PostNL faced with a tricky parcours, that featured a hilly and punchy final local lap around Plougonvelin. It was an attacking start to the stage before a break eventually went clear, with all of the Development program riders in the bunch, looking to stay safe and protect Vlad Van Mechelen for the finale. Unfortunately there were a few spills and crashes in the race with Frank Aron Ragilo and Thom van der Werff both involved, but thankfully they were able to remount and complete the stage. With things splitting on the climbs and after the crashes, just Axel Källberg was left with Van Mechelen in the reduced peloton. Coming into the finale there was a big fight for position and despite their best efforts the team couldn’t move forward in the the end to compete for a top result, with Van Mechelen leading the team home.
Speaking after the stage Källberg said: “We did some nice teamwork today on the first stage with first coming into the part with possible crosswinds in a really good position but there was not enough wind to split the peloton. Then we switched the focus to the local laps and we were there in a good position but unfortunately both Thom and Frank were involved in a crash with two laps to go and then it was only me and Vlad left in the front. We wanted to sprint with Vlad but we got a bit boxed in and were also behind a crash in the final corner, so no result for us today but we go for it again tomorrow.”