The top-ten GC finish was our fourth such result in a stage race this season, following strong performances in the Volta ao Alentejo, Circuit des Ardennes, and the Tour of Rhodes, where we had two riders in the top ten.

Our team came into the seven-day Tour de Bretagne hoping to compete in every stage and possibly post a rider inside the top ten on GC. Those ambitions were consistently met as the well-rounded team picked up impressive results, infiltrated dangerous breaks, and used an aggressive racing approach to compete with a peloton stacked with U23 talent.

The first day of racing ended in a bunch sprint, but the team kept out of trouble, avoided late splits, and protected its GC cards. On the first key day, from Ploërmel to Briec on stage 4, Gavin and his teammates marked several moves after Noah Streif had been in the day’s early break, and Gavin finished off some fine teamwork by taking seventh on the stage.

Stage 5 saw Gavin put the hammer down, with the all-rounder going toe-to-toe with his main rivals and clipping off the front mid-stage to claim vital bonus seconds. Those time bonuses put the EF Education-Aevolo rider into sixth on GC, within touching distance of the final podium.

On the final day, Gavin was well supported and among the strongest riders in the race, and picked up another top-ten on the stage and a respectable sixth on GC to end the race.

“For sure on the stages I was aiming for top tens, but I wasn’t sure about the GC because I didn’t really know where I stood coming into this race, and the margins between the top riders are really small. After the first few stages, a top result was clear, so I’ll take this result,” Gavin said at the finish.

“I missed a move right at the end of the final stage, and that’s on me, but overall my positioning has been really good this week. These little moments can happen, but I’m still happy with how the week went and my result. I felt pretty good, and there are some positives I can take out of this. For Flèche du Sud in a few weeks, I can certainly take a lot of confidence from this set of performances,” he added.

The race was also a big step in the right direction for Peyton Burckel and his ongoing development. The first-year U23 rider had never raced the Tour de Bretagne and hadn’t raced a seven-day stage race, but he was in the key split on stage 1 and was a solid teammate throughout the important experience. 

“Every day was a fight 80km out from the finish, and it was a lot different to racing in the US. It was hard on the finishing circuits, and the stages are long too, but I’ve been getting used to it since the race started. You have to save so much energy, and that’s decisive. I tried to help position my teammates as much as possible, got held up by a couple of crashes, but this has been a big learning experience for me,” Peyton said. 

“The longest race I’ve ever done before this was 180km and that was a one-day race, and during Bretagne we went over 180km three times, with one 200km stage in there. Those distances make a big difference, but I’m excited to take this form I’ve built into my next targets,” he added. 

Well done, Gavin, Peyton, and the rest of the team for showing so much grit and determination and coming away with several impressive results in France. We can’t wait to see what the EF Education-Aevolo riders can do at their next race this weekend at In Flanders Fields - In Ieper/Kattekoers.