Aussies sweep Bretagne Ladies Tour as Grace Brown wins again

25 May 2024 | 03:19 PMBy: Ryan Miu

Grace Brown (FDJ-SUEZ) and Sarah Roy (Cofidis Women Team) have pulled off an all-Australian sweep of the Bretagne Ladies Tour in northwestern France.

Brown came in as defending champion of the three-stage, UCI 2.1-level race after winning the time trial and overall in 2023.

On Wednesday, the Australian ITT champion picked up where she left off, crushing the 18-kilometre opening time trial by 52 seconds to her nearest competitor. That put Brown in the first leader's jersey as she and her FDJ-SUEZ teammates locked out the top four places.

Thursday's Stage 2 was a lumpy 138-kilometre road race, where former Australian road champion Sarah Roy placed herself in a late breakaway of five riders with 30 kilometres remaining. The Sydneysider sprinted to victory from that small group, earning her first win since the national title in 2021, and her first in Europe since 2019.

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Brown finished safely in the bunch 16 seconds behind, defending her overall lead – but she wasn't done yet.

On yesterday's final stage, another hilly 135-kilometre affair, the Victorian put in a surprise solo attack with 9 kilometres remaining. While her gap never grew beyond a few hundred metres, the presence of her FDJ-SUEZ teammates stifled the peloton's chase. Brown proved too strong and skilful on the technical finishing circuit, holding off the sprint behind by 3 seconds to seal another stage win and the overall.

The result continues a superb early season for Brown, who won Liège-Bastogne-Liège a month ago. The ARA Australian Cycling Team rider (you can read our Q&A with her here) appears to be on the perfect trajectory towards her biggest target of the year, the Olympic Games in Paris.