With 300 meters to go, Nina knew she could not lose. Her best friend and teammate, Cédrine Kerbaol, had just pulled a whole lap around Plouhinec for her, driving the chase behind a trio of attackers that included Paula Blasy, Célia Géry, and Rosita Reijnhout. Cédrine kept the break’s lead to within a few dozen seconds as the road lurched and plunged by the beaches of the Bay of Biscay. Under the red kite marking one kilometer to go, only Blasy and Géry were in front. They missed a couple of pedal strokes watching each other and Cédrine brought them closer. And then Nina went, hands on the hoods, storming into the wind, legs turning over a massive gear.

"Out of the last corner, we were maybe 50 meters behind the two," Nina said. "After the job the whole team had done all day, I knew I had to finish it off – there was no other option. So I started my sprint, because I knew I could get in the draft of the two in front. I used that to rest a bit, then did another kick to the line. And it worked. After a hard race like that you're just giving whatever's left. I think I was in the saddle almost the whole time – maybe out of it for three seconds when I was accelerating. When I crossed the line I was just like – what the heck? And then I was so tired, so I just went and sat on the grass and drank a lot of water. Then Cédrine came over and I started to realize it a bit more. Mostly I was just happy for the team that we finished it off."

Stina Kagevi, Auke de Buysser, Solbjørk Anderson, and Mirre Knaven each did great turns to set up Nina and Cédrine earlier in the race. With 13 dirt sectors on the hilly 130-kilometer course that started in Plougoff out on the Pointe du Raz and swooped in for six brutal circuits around Plouhinec by the Atlantic, it was a very tough race to control, but EF Education-Oatly pulled hard when they had to and got their race leaders up the road for the finale.

"It was a really chaotic race, and our team just did an amazing job," Nina said. "Everyone committed fully, did their pull, came back and tried to go again as many times as possible – that was amazing to see. We went into the race with two leaders, Cédrine and me, because we knew the circuit would be hard and we wanted more than one option – on the climbs we didn't know whether it would go full gas and Cédrine would have to follow. She crashed on one of the dirt road sectors and had a long chase to get back. That's when we switched tactics a bit. She used a lot of energy, so it was best to try to chase it back with her and go for the sprint."

Nina twirled her arm in the air as she crossed the line and then collapsed in the grass by the road. She only started to realize what she'd done when Cédrine wrapped her arms around her in a giant bear hug. This is Nina's second victory this year, after her Luxembourg time trial title, and just her first professional road race win.

"It's pretty epic. If you just look at the podium, the two up there with me are quite well known and have nice palmarès, so it's really nice to beat riders like that. The whole group we were in had some strong girls. But I knew I had to finish it off."

That, she did. Congratulations, Nina! You won it for the squad.