Lizzie Deignan takes first 2020 win at GP de Plouay

Lizzie Deignan took her first pro victory of 2020 by winning Tuesday’s GP de Plouay.

Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) attacked into the day’s decisive breakaway, and then outsprinted countrywoman Lizzie Banks (Équipe Paule Ka) in the final meters to take the victory on rain-soaked roads.

It’s Deignan’s third win at Plouay, which she won in 2015 and 2017.

“I’m really happy, Plouay is a really nice race and I always seem to do well here,” Deignan said. “The rain came which was an extra bonus for me, finally no more sweating in the heat for me! I’m really, really happy and grateful to the whole team for their effort.”

The victory marks the first UCI Women’s WorldTour win of the season for Trek-Segafredo. The U.S. team has roared to life amid the return to racing following the COVID-19 shutdown, taking four wins in the past week. Anna Plichta won Poland’s national title in the individual time trial; Elisa Longo Borghini won the same title for Italy; Audrey Cordon-Ragot took France’s national road race championship as well.

“Obviously I’m delighted, it’s been a difficult season for everybody so far and we’ve had a lot of bad luck in the first few races,” Deignan said. “It’s been clear to me that we’ve had the strongest team in all the races and finally the luck was on our side. We had the numbers and used that advantage early.”

Indeed, Deignan joined the decisive move with 35 km remaining after following Banks, who attacked soon after a crash in the peloton delayed some of the other big names, among then Anna van der Breggen (Boels-Dolmans) and Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott).

Boels-Dolmans marked the move with Dutch rider Jip van den Bos, however, van den Bos crashed on a wet corner and lost contact with the duo.

The peloton surged and slowed in the push to the finish, and Deignan and Banks steadily grew their advantage.

In the end, the duo maintained a gap of 1:13 on the group. They started their respective sprints in sight of the line, with Deignan holding off Banks in the final push to the line.

“I attacked off the back of some attacks from the other girls, and I was able to get some space and I knew the rest of the team was backing me up behind, so all I had to do was put my head down and try to get to the finish line first, and we did,” Deignan said.

The victory is confirmation of Deignan’s top form as she and the rest of the women’s peloton heads into an important bloc of racing, with The European Continental Championships falling on August 27, La Course by le Tour de France on August 29, the Tour de l’Ardeche running September 3-9, and the 10-day Giro Rosa beginning on September 11.