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45-561: The race was originally named Grand-Prix de Plouay and, from 1989 to 2015, GP Ouest-France . It was included in the inaugural UCI ProTour in 2005 and in 2011 in its successor, the UCI World Tour . Since 2016 it is called Bretagne Classic Ouest-France. Since 2002, a women's event, the Classic Lorient Agglomération is organized on Saturday, the day before the men's race. Supporting events have grown over

90-574: A criminal court. He stated that he was doing it for the whistleblowers who were defamed by the UCI. The public prosecutor ruled that there was no case and dismissed Kimmage's complaint. Kimmage appealed the decision to the court and the court once more decided in favour of Verbruggen. In July 2008, a BBC investigation found documents indicating that over three million dollars were paid by Japanese race organizers as reimbursements for UCI expenses during Verbruggen's tenure as president, including five flights to

135-626: A cycling team, to get access to the Belgian market. In 1975, he became a member of the professional cycling committee of the Royal Dutch Cycling Union (KNWU). In 1979, Verbruggen became a member of the board of the Fédération Internationale de Cyclisme Professionnel (FICP). He became vice-president in 1982, and president in 1984. From 1991 to 2005, Verbruggen was president of the UCI. From 1996 on, he

180-494: A demanding 27 km (17 mi) circuit and one 14 km (8.7 mi) lap in the backdrop of Brittany. The circuit is known for its high rate of attrition, featuring climbs and technical descents. The total distance covered is 247 km (153.5 mi). The first climb is addressed almost immediately after the start as the race goes over the Côte du Lézot, a one-kilometre (0.62 mi) climb with an average gradient of 6%. Next

225-497: A friend of his, because that is not true. I say it because I'm sure." Verbruggen stated that he never said that Armstrong had never used doping, but that Armstrong never tested positive, as was correctly reported by AP on 8 June 2010. In March 2013, it was revealed that Hein Verbruggen while in charge of Summer 2008 Olympics bids at sometime in the early 2000s demanded France to adapt its anti-doping laws to bring them in line with

270-697: A letter in February 2008 to all professional teams urging them to boycott Paris–Nice because it was an 'outlawed' race. In response, the AIGCP (Association International des Groupes Cyclistes Professionels) announced that the teams had unanimously decided to take part in Paris–Nice, the organisation of which was to be taken over by the French Cycling Federation . Quick Step team manager Patrick Lefevere commented: "I'm more than fed up with all

315-514: A personal check for $ 25,000 in 2002, which went toward doping controls for junior racers, and a $ 100,000 donation from Armstrong's management company in 2005, which went toward the Sysmex machine. Given UCI's endorsement of USADA's decision that the donation was made by the leader of one of the most sophisticated, systematic and successful doping programs in sporting history, for the express purpose of improving doping controls, Verbruggen's acceptance of

360-471: A positive dope control in 2001. Verbruggen denied the allegation, but confirmed that Armstrong representatives had approached the UCI with the intention of donating money. Verbruggen indicated that Armstrong's money would not have gone toward testing, but may have been used to purchase a Sysmex machine to analyze blood samples. Pat McQuaid , Verbruggen's successor as UCI president, later confirmed that Armstrong made two donations during Verburggen's tenure:

405-512: A secret deal with Chinese officials to allow the censorship, without the knowledge of either the press or most members of the IOC. Rogge later denied that any such meeting had taken place, but did not insist that China adhere to its prior assurances that the Internet would not be censored. In May 2010, Floyd Landis accused Verbruggen of accepting a $ 100,000 bribe from Lance Armstrong to cover-up

450-512: A small group of riders manages to stay away, but often they are caught by the sprinters and their teams in sight of the finish line. Since 2002, a women's event, the Classic Lorient Agglomération has been organized, using the same circuit. Originally part of the UCI Women's Road World Cup , the race is now part of the UCI Women's World Tour . Britain's Lizzie Deignan holds the record with three wins. UCI ProTour The UCI ProTour

495-524: A surprise win in 2013 . In 2014 the attackers managed to hold off the chasing peloton, with Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel winning the seven-man sprint. Alexander Kristoff was only two seconds behind, winning the sprint for eighth place. In 2015 it was Kristoff's turn for victory, leading out a bunch sprint of 69 riders. The race starts and finishes in the small village of Plouay , in the heartland of French cycling. The course consists of eight laps of

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540-512: A system in place for a timely upgrade and downgrade of teams from/to the lower-tier UCI Continental Circuits . Originally, UCI and the organisers of the Grand Tours had been unable to come to terms on the 2006 UCI ProTour, with the result that the status of both the Grand Tours and some of the other races organised by those organisations behind the Grand Tours was unclear until well into the season, but they were eventually included. During

585-531: Is a gentle six-kilometre (3.7 mi) ascent up to the Chapelle Sainte-Anne des Bois, marking the halfway point of the circuit. After a flat section, the race addresses the Côte de Ty-Marrec , with a maximum gradient of 10%. The race ends with a final lap of 14 km (8.7 mi), with the last climb of the Côte de Ty-Marrec providing opportunities to launch attacks or distance sprinters. Sometimes

630-936: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) since 2008. Previously, he was a member of the IOC and Chairman of the Coordination Commission for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008. He is highly suspected to have protected Lance Armstrong . Born in Helmond , Verbruggen studied at the Nyenrode Business Universiteit . Afterwards, he became a sales manager. In 1970, when he was a sales manager at Mars, Incorporated , he convinced them to sponsor

675-523: The Tour de France , Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España , as well as the early-season stage race Paris–Nice and key single-day events such as Paris–Roubaix , Milan–San Remo , Liège–Bastogne–Liège , La Flèche Wallonne and the Giro di Lombardia . On 15 July 2008, the 17 ProTour teams participating in the 2008 Tour de France announced that none of them would seek ProTour licenses for the 2009 season, but in

720-552: The UCI ProTour . In 2005, Verbruggen became Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau . Later that year, Verbruggen resigned as president of the UCI, and became vice-president. He then stopped being a member of the IOC, but was reinstated during the 2006 Winter Olympics . After the 2008 Summer Olympics , Verbruggen resigned from the UCI management committee and as member of the IOC. The IOC then made him an honorary member, as did

765-732: The UCI Road World Cup series, which ended at the end of the 2004 season (although the World Cup did not include any stage races ). The ProTour was the subject of continuing disputes involving the UCI, cycling teams, and the organizers of the world's most prominent bicycle races (most notably, the Grand Tours ), and in 2009 and 2010 the ranking element of the ProTour was superseded by the UCI World Ranking . For 2011,

810-674: The mainland authorities: "for the first time, foreign media will be able to report freely and publish their work freely in China. " However, by 30 July 2008, IOC spokesman Kevan Gosper announced that the Internet would indeed be censored for journalists . Gosper, who said he had not heard about this, suggested that high IOC officials (probably including the Dutch Hein Verbruggen and Swiss IOC Executive Director, Gilbert Felli – and most likely with Rogge's knowledge) had made

855-657: The 2006 season the designated replacement principal sponsor for the Phonak Hearing Systems team , iShares , pulled its support as a results of the Floyd Landis doping scandal and the team was disbanded. The Unibet.com Cycling Team received Phonak's ProTour license, and the Swiss-based, Kazakh-backed Astana Team received the license previously owned by Manolo Saiz and his Liberty Seguros–Würth . Unibet.com and Discovery Channel discontinued after

900-515: The 2007 UCI ProTour season, the ASO , RCS and Unipublic, organisers of the Tour de France , Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España respectively, remained at odds with each other. The primary reason was that grand tour organisers wanted more freedom to invite popular national teams (e.g., UCI Professional Continental teams) and the right to exclude some UCI ProTour teams such as Unibet.com . Failure to achieve agreement lead UCI chairman Pat McQuaid to send

945-542: The 2007 season, bringing down the number of ProTour teams to 18. At the end of 2008, another two teams dropped out: Crédit Agricole and Gerolsteiner . Their licenses were taken over by Garmin–Slipstream and Team Katusha . Bbox Bouygues Telecom and Cofidis were denied licence renewals for the 2010 season, and new licences were given to Team Sky and Team RadioShack . Although Lampre–Farnese Vini had had its licence renewed until 2013, its registration (a separate process from licensing, concerning finances) for 2010 season

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990-529: The Dutch Olympic Committee. As of 2005, Verbruggen remained an "honorary president" of the UCI. Verbruggen (sometimes along with Pat McQuaid ) has been involved in several defamation suits against people who accused UCI of corruption in regard to doping. In 2002 UCI sued Festina soigneur Willy Voet for defamation over claims in his book Breaking the Chain . In 2004 the UCI won

1035-529: The Netherlands for Verbruggen personally in 1999. The investigation cited sources within the UCI who confirmed that the repayments were "explicitly a payback for getting keirin into the Games ". Verbruggen denied any wrongdoing and a UCI press release of 28 July 2008 explained that contracts had been signed with Japanese cycling groups wanting to invest in the development of track cycling and that this matter

1080-402: The ProTour and World Ranking were fully merged into the UCI World Tour . ProTour status for teams – relabelled UCI ProTeams – will continue as the highest level of registration, and will carry the right and obligation to participate in all World Tour races. The ProTour licences are given to a maximum of 20 teams, to which sponsors must commit multiple years of sponsorship (4 years at

1125-544: The ProTour's inauguration). The exception to this rule was the Phonak team, which was given only a two-year licence due to previous doping allegations. Licence holders can apply for registration each year, which is dependent upon a check on contracts and budgets. After 2005, the Fassa Bortolo and Domina Vacanze teams folded and the vacant places were given to AG2R Prévoyance and Team Milram respectively. Following

1170-466: The World Cup, the ProTour was designed to follow the format of the Formula One motor-racing series, and was intended to address several concerns: The UCI lobbied the organizers of the Grand Tours to participate in the ProTour, and was successful in obtaining their agreement despite prior disagreements and threats to completely pull out of the ProTour. The ProTour has been criticized for not having

1215-556: The agreement was clearly related to bringing the French rules in line with those of the IOC during games time (a prerequisite for all Olympic Games). In July 2013, it was revealed that from 2001 to 2004, Verbruggen had some of his money managed by the owner of USA Cycling and part owner of the United States Postal Service professional cycling team, Thom Weisel . The broker was Jim Ochowicz , former President of

1260-532: The anti-doping rules of the IOC during the Olympic Games. The sports minister at the time, Marie-George Buffet , was later instructed by the prime minister after meetings with other IOC representatives to deliver a letter agreeing to this adaptation. English summary: When Paris lost its bid to Beijing, certain French media falsely suggested that the Agreement was related to relaxing doping rules whereas

1305-473: The arguing. ASO and UCI don't know how much damage they are doing to the sport. What am I supposed to tell my sponsors? This conflict has been going on for three years and is escalating all the time. Can the teams be certain that they will be able to take part in the Tour de France later in the year?". From 2008, the ProTour was largely devalued by the withdrawal from its calendar of the three Grand Tours , namely

1350-447: The case, and in 2006 won the appeal. Voet had made various claims about UCI and Verbruggen's alleged behavior related to an alleged issue with Lidocaine and Laurent Brochard at the 1997 UCI Road World Championships . Another defamation suit was brought against Floyd Landis in 2011 for some of the aforementioned claims about Lance Armstrong and the UCI. The case against Landis was ruled in UCI's favor. Another defamation lawsuit

1395-414: The donation has not been without controversy. McQuaid also conceded that the UCI's acceptance of Armstrong's money may have been a mistake. The Cycling Independent Reform Commission concluded in February 2015 that Lance Armstrong did not test positive and confirmed that it didn't find any indication of a financial agreement or corruption. In July 2010, an email correspondence between Landis and Verbruggen

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1440-530: The end all but two of them re-committed . In 2008 the Tour Down Under in Australia became the first ProTour event to be held outside Europe. In 2009 UCI and organizers had agreement that events will be counted towards UCI World Ranking , which also included, in its first two seasons, Professional Continental teams. Grand Tour organizers kept the right to choose teams for the races, and also some of

1485-423: The inaugural edition. In its first decades the race was dominated by French riders. The first non-French winner was Italian Ugo Anzile in 1954, the second was Holland's Frits Pirard in 1979. Ten riders have won the race two times, all of them French except Oliver Naesen , the most recent to do so with wins in 2016 and 2018. Throughout its history, the roll of honour includes some illustrious winners. Séan Kelly

1530-404: The same rules for all, did not chase Lance Armstrong after he had provided an antedated certificate. The Judge also sentenced Paul Kimmage to pay Hein Verbruggen 12.000 Swiss Francs; covering his legal fees. Paul Kimmage was also ordered to publish corrections in several papers. In addition Kimmage, who had received money from the public to prepare a defence, decided to sue Verbruggen himself in

1575-565: The season-long competition element of the ProTour was replaced by the 2009 UCI World Ranking and the 2010 UCI World Ranking . Hein Verbruggen Hein Verbruggen (21 June 1941 – 14 June 2017) was a Dutch sports administrator who was president of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) from 1991 till 2005 and president of SportAccord from 2004 to 2013. He was an honorary member of

1620-555: The teams chose not to race certain races. From 2011, all races on the World Calendar, those that yield World Ranking points, are to be classified as World Tour events, and the Pro Tour as a distinct series of races is to be discontinued. Key: Dark grey indicates that the team was not operating in the year in question. Mid-grey indicates that the team was competing at a lower level in the year in question. In 2009 and 2010,

1665-558: The years and now include BMX races, track racing and a mass-participation ride, as part of a four–day festival in the last summer weekend in Brittany. The Bretagne Classic, originally named Circuit de Plouay and later the Grand-Prix de Plouay , was created in 1931 by former Tour de France doctor Berty, who used his influence to attract some of the biggest names of French cycling to the inaugural edition. Breton rider François Favé won

1710-508: Was a series of road bicycle races in Europe, Australia and Canada organised by the UCI (International Cycling Union). Created by Hein Verbruggen , former president of the UCI, it comprises a number of 'ProTour' cycling teams , each of whom are required to compete in every round of the series. It was initially the basis of a season long competition for rankings points, created for 2005 to replace

1755-445: Was against WADA Chief Dick Pound regarding his comments about doping and UCI. The lawsuit was settled by the parties in 2009. Pound retracted his comments and acknowledged that the UCI was "doing good work to eliminate cheats from their sport.” Another was filed by the UCI, Pat McQuaid and Hein Verbruggen against former cyclist and journalist Paul Kimmage in 2012, again related to the accusations about Armstrong and UCI. The lawsuit

1800-613: Was also member of the IOC. During that time, Verbruggen combined the FICP (for professional cyclists) and the FIAC (for amateur cyclists) in the UCI. Because the Olympic organisation had the FIAC as partners, it had been impossible before then for professional cyclists to enter the Olympic Games, but from the 1996 Summer Olympics , professional athletes could compete. In his last year, he launched

1845-414: Was later dropped by the UCI and Pat McQuaid but not by Verbruggen. On the 26th of May 2016, the judge ruled once more in favour of Hein Verbruggen by prohibiting Paul Kimmage to affirm that Hein Verbruggen knowingly tolerated doping or to make any allegations of the same kind. The Judge also forbade Paul Kimmage to claim that Hein Verbruggen hid controls, is dishonest, did not behave responsibly, did not apply

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1890-468: Was leaked to The New York Daily News , in which Verbruggen attacked Landis in the wake of accusations Landis made about the UCI and Lance Armstrong. The e-mails were later reproduced at Cyclingnews.com. USADA's "reasoned decision" on Lance Armstrong quotes Verbruggen as saying in May 2011: "There is nothing. I repeat again: Lance Armstrong has never used doping. Never, never, never. I say this not because I am

1935-429: Was temporarily rejected, but restored after they had missed one race. UCI bylaws were later changed to require a team to be registered before its license is granted or renewed, to avoid a repeat of this situation. Season-long competitions for professional road racing were first instituted in 1948, and continued until the late 1980s when the UCI instituted the UCI Road World Cup series which ran until 2004. In replacing

1980-462: Was the first English-speaking rider to win in 1984. Belgian Frank Vandenbroucke became the youngest winner in 1996, at the age of 21. Italian Vincenzo Nibali , on his way to cycling legend, took a surprise victory in 2006 , at the age of 22. Australians Simon Gerrans and Matthew Goss won in 2009 and 2010 respectively, with Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen soloing to victory in 2012 and Italy's Filippo Pozzato helping resurrect his career with

2025-598: Was unrelated to the inclusion of keirin , together with three other track disciplines, in the Olympic Games. These inclusions had already been decided by the IOC six months earlier. No evidence has ever been produced to back up the claim. In the 2015 report of the Cycling Independent Reform Commission it was once more confirmed there was no issue. For the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, IOC President Jacques Rogge announced in mid-July 2008 that there would be no Internet censorship by

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