After 1,245 kilometres and seven days of racing, the 2025 Tour de Bretagne came to an end on Thursday. In the final stage leading to Plancoët, his hometown, Eliott Boulet went on the attack and gave his all to shine in front of his public. After he entered a leading group in the final, the 18-year-old was eventually caught by the peloton in the closing kilometres. He was therefore unable to conclude the week with a top result, but still finished the race with a superb stage victory and fifteenth place overall.
It was on the fourth day of racing, the day after Eliott Boulet’s victory, that the 2025 Tour de Bretagne was decided. Heading towards Landévant, half a dozen riders managed to take one minute on the peloton, which included the rider from “La Conti” Groupama-FDJ, who therefore went from third to twentieth place overall. In Guenrouët, the following day, the young Breton took thirteenth place in the stage in a reduced peloton, allowing him to climb back to fifteenth overall, a position unchanged after the small bunch sprint at Le Pertre on Wednesday. As he set off for Plancoët, where he lives, Eliott Boulet had nothing to lose on Thursday. “I was still more stressed than the other days because I really wanted to win,” he said. “In the Vallée Verte, I was waiting for an attack, but it didn’t happen. I felt good, I was confident. They finally attacked on the next climb. I kept pushing, but I went off on my own, and no one followed me. I was a bit bothered because I thought it could be a lively race. I thought it was a pity to be conservative on such a nice circuit.” The peloton was then quite compact coming into the finishing circuit, which had to be completed six times. “I kept hearing ‘Come on Eliott’”, he added.
“I’m coming away with a victory, so I’m happy”, Eliott Boulet
Highly motivated, the young man made another move in the final section of the race when the strongest attacked. After a grueling chase, he was able to join the leading group with fourteen kilometres to go. “He wanted to show himself in front of his home crowd,” Jérôme Gannat said. “It almost worked. It was a risky move because we know that the final stage often ends in a sprint, but he gave it a go. We still believed it could work on the last lap, but there was a big acceleration from the peloton, and it finally came down to a sprint. The sprint option could have been the right one for him, but when you see that a lot of young riders are conservative nowadays, when there is one who wants to attack and be active, you have to let him do it.” In the final, slightly uphill sprint, Eliott Boulet kept his position within the peloton, thus securing his fifteenth place overall. “I’m disappointed not to have won because I had great legs, but I maybe did too much,” said the young man. “That said, it’s only my first year as a U23, my first Tour de Bretagne, and I’m coming away with a victory so I’m happy. I would have liked to bring home a second one, but the finishing circuits weren’t hard enough this year. At least I could show myself, and I’m happy with the feelings after seven days of racing.” “It proves he’s recovered well,” added Jérôme. “After a week of racing, not many riders could still produce some effort, and he did. That’s promising for the future.”
“We won’t make the same choices next year”, Jérôme Gannat
Eliott Boulet’s individual performances, however, overshadowed a complicated week for the team. “The big positive is Eliott’s victory,” Jérôme concluded. “It was the first win ever for the team on the Tour de Bretagne, so it was a great satisfaction. On the other hand, we showed too many weaknesses in this race by finishing with only two riders, even though each abandon has a cause. Baptiste suffered two crashes in two days, in addition to crashes in Liège and Paris-Roubaix. It was too much… Lewis has raced a lot, especially with the WorldTeam, and he was at the end of a cycle. He had ambitions, but his condition didn’t keep up due to fatigue. Reef, who is 18 and comes from New Zealand, has raced almost eight weeks in a row. As for Oscar, he arrived very tired from the three races in the East of France where he worked a lot for the WorldTeam. Overall, we get to the end of the first part of the season. The first heatwaves may have also impacted the riders’ recovery. We will have to take a moment, analyse all of this, and we won’t make the same choices to prepare for the Tour de Bretagne next year. It’s the most important Class 2 race in France. It is a popular, hard event, and we must prepare for it in the same way as we prepare for the Giro NextGen.”
