Costa coasts to Bretagne win, development updates

Adrien Costa (Axeon Hagens Berman) won the seven-stage Tour de Bretagne Cycliste in France, finishing seven seconds ahead of the field for his first career U23 general classification win.

U23 Men

Costa finished in 28:12:37 at the April 25-May 1 event, outlasting Frantisek Sisr (CZE), who earned silver in 28:12:44 and Lennard Hofstede (NED), who claimed bronze in 28:12:45.

He first took the Yellow Jersey with his Stage 4 win on Thursday and managed to nurse an eight-second advantage over the next three days before closing it out on Sunday. Costa’s efforts also helped Team USA to a second-place team finish.

Sean Bennett (An Post-Chain Reaction) crossed in 28:16:45 for 36th, while Greg Daniel (Axeon Hagens Berman) and T.J. Eisenhart (BMC Development Team) finished 57th and 58th in 28:22:09 and 28:22:15, respectively.

Thomas Soladay (Glendale, Calif./Rally Cycling) crossed 103rd in 29:01:41 and Curtis White (Delanson, N.Y./Rally Pro Cycling) placed 109th in 29:14:02.

Full Tour de Bretagne Cycliste results

Women

The Team USA women’s development program took on the April 29-May 1 Festival Elsy Jacobs in the Netherlands, where Gretchen Stumhofer (Colavita Bianchi) led all American development riders with a 67th-place time of 5:51:33.

Katarzyna Niewiadoma (POL) took the win in 5:34:39, Katrin Garfoot (AUS) earned second in 5:35:14 and Anna van der Breggen (NED) finished third in 5:35:17.

Amber Pierce was 70th in 5:52:49, while Madeleine Boutet, Holly Breck (TWENTY16 Ridebiker), Laurel Rathbun (Raleigh-Clement) and Aliya Traficante (Folsom Bike-Trek) also competed.

Racing for their trade teams, Carmen Small (Cervelo Bigla Pro Cycling Team) placed 17th overall in 5:37:28 and Tayler Wiles (Orica-AIS) claimed 47th in 5:40:03.

Full Festival Elsy Jacobs results

Coming up

The junior men are back in action at the May 5-8 Juniors Course de la Paix (Peace Race) in the Czech Republic, while the U23 men look to keep the momentum alive at the May 8 Flech Ardennais in Belgium.