In the French one-day race, where Margaux Vigié finished a strong second last year, a group of five riders formed the early breakaway. However, the breakaway was never given much room by the peloton, where Team Visma | Lease a Bike Women were alert and positioned near the front.

On the local circuits, where the climb of Botmel played a key role, the team showed its attacking intentions. Van Dam managed to position herself in the front group in impressive fashion. The 24-year-old showed she had strong legs by staying with the best riders. Van Dam headed towards the finish in a group of four riders, before sprinting to a strong third place.

“It was a tough day,” Van Dam reflects. “The pace was high throughout the entire race. As a team, we did a good job by starting the local circuits together and near the front, where the race really exploded. I felt good and managed to stay with the strongest riders. In the final kilometre, I tried to open a gap on the competition, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to do so. I gave it everything I had in the sprint, but just came up short. In any case, I’m looking back on the race with a good feeling.”

The Canadian hopes to carry that good feeling into Saturday, when the Classic Lorient Agglomeration is on the programme. “I’m really looking forward to Saturday. As a team, we showed today that we are in good form, and we hope to carry that into Saturday. It would be great to be involved in the finale as a team again.”