The classic cycle races are the most prestigious one-day professional road cycling races in the international calendar. Some of these events date back to the 19th century. They are normally held at roughly the same time each year. The five most revered races are often described as the cycling monuments.
Sylvain Chavanel is a French former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2000 and 2018 for the Cofidis, Omega Pharma–Quick-Step, IAM Cycling and two spells with the Brioches La Boulangère/Direct Énergie team. His brother Sébastien Chavanel also rode as a professional cyclist. Sylvain Chavanel was noted as a strong all-rounder who won both sprints and time-trials, and was a good northern classics rider, taking 45 wins during his professional career.
Filippo "Pippo" Pozzato is an Italian former road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2000 and 2018 for the Mapei–Quick-Step, Fassa Bortolo, Quick-Step–Innergetic, Liquigas, Team Katusha, Lampre–Merida, and two spells with the Farnese Vini–Selle Italia/Wilier Triestina–Selle Italia teams.
Pierrick Fédrigo is a French former racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2002 and 2016 for the Crédit Agricole, Bbox Bouygues Telecom, FDJ.fr and Fortuneo–Vital Concept teams. He was the winner of the French National Road Race Championships in 2005, and won four stages at the Tour de France.
The Classic Lorient Agglomération is an elite professional women's road bicycle race held in Plouay, France.
Edvald Boasson Hagen is a Norwegian professional road racing cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale. He was ranked as no. 3 in the world by UCI as of 31 August 2009, when he was 22 years old. He is known as an all-rounder, having won the Norwegian National Road Race Championships in 2012, 2015 and 2016. He is also a ten-time winner of the Norwegian National Time Trial Championships.
Alexander Kristoff is a Norwegian professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Uno-X Mobility. His biggest victories have been the 2014 Milan–San Remo and the 2015 Tour of Flanders among many other successes.
Giacomo Nizzolo is an Italian racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team.
The 2011 GP Ouest-France was the 75th edition of the GP Ouest-France, a single-day cycling race. It was held on 28 August 2011, over a distance of 248.3 km (154.3 mi), starting and finishing in Plouay, France. It was the 23rd event of the 2011 UCI World Tour season.
Alena Vasileŭna Amialiusik is a Belarusian road bicycle racer, who rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam UAE Team ADQ.
The 2012 GP Ouest-France was the 76th edition of the GP Ouest-France, a single-day cycling race. It was held on 26 August 2012, over a distance of 243 km (151.0 mi), starting and finishing in Plouay, France. It was the twenty-fourth race of the 2012 UCI World Tour season.
Eugenia Bujak is a racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam UAE Team ADQ. She competed in the 2013 UCI women's road race in Florence for Poland, and has represented Slovenia in competition since 2018.
Elena Cecchini is an Italian racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam Team SD Worx–Protime. She competed in the 2013 UCI women's team time trial in Florence.
Coryn Labecki is an American racing cyclist of Filipino descent, who currently rides for UCI Women's Continental Team EF–Oatly–Cannondale. She was previously a member of Jumbo-Visma from 2022 to 2023 and Team DSM from 2017 to 2021.
The 2014 GP Ouest-France was the 78th edition of the GP Ouest-France, a single-day cycling race. It was held on 31 August 2014, over a distance of 229.1 km (142.4 mi), starting and finishing in Plouay, France. It was the twenty-fourth race of the 2014 UCI World Tour season.
The 2015 GP Ouest-France was a one-day classic cycle race that took place in Plouay on 30 August 2015. The race was the 79th edition of the GP Ouest-France and was the twenty-fourth race of the 2015 UCI World Tour.
The 2016 Gent–Wevelgem, was a one-day cycling classic that took place on 27 March 2016. It was the 78th edition of the Gent–Wevelgem race and the seventh event of the 2016 UCI World Tour. The race followed a 243-kilometre (151 mi) course that started in Deinze and ended in Wevelgem in Belgium, with a portion of the race spent in northern France. The race included ten climbs, several of them cobbled, which provided the principal difficulty in the race. The last and most difficult climb was the Kemmelberg. The favourites for the race included Alexander Kristoff, Fabian Cancellara (Trek–Segafredo), and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff).
The 2017 Bretagne Classic Ouest–France was a road cycling one-day race that took place on 27 August. It was the 81st edition of the former GP Ouest–France race now known as the Bretagne Classic; it was also the 32nd event of the 2017 UCI World Tour. It was won by Elia Viviani in the sprint.
The 2020 GP de Plouay featured as the third round of the 2020 UCI Women's World Tour and was held on 25 August 2020, in Plouay, France. The race was held on the same day as the men's Bretagne Classic, during the 2020 European Road Championships which were also held in Plouay.
The 2021 Bretagne Classic Ouest–France is a road cycling one-day race that took place on 29 August 2021 in the region of Brittany in northwestern France. It was the 85th edition of the Bretagne Classic Ouest–France and the 25th event of the 2021 UCI World Tour.
François Favé (FRA)
Marc Hirschi (SUI)
