"I didn't want to go back into that mess": Etoile de Besseges adapt a number of safety measures to not repeat the same mistakes

The 2025 edition of Etoile de Besseges was a miserable one, to put it simply. Cars on the road, stages being paused, altered, and almost cancelled at times. The edition had only 52 finishers out of 146 participants. Most of them riders for French teams who were ordered by their management to honour the home race. Everyone else withdrew after the cup of patience overflew in stage 3. Riders and sports directors stranded somewhere on French countryside in freezing temperatures and heavy rain, with safety of the remaining stages uncertain, that was too much to handle for more than half of the participants.

Obviously, these events didn't help the reputation of the race with a five-decades-long tradition, however the race still made a return in 2026. With a slightly weakened (and more compact) field, but the same ambition to serve as a launching pad of the French cycling season.

"We received a huge number of messages of support, but I didn't want to go back," explained Claudine Fangille to L'Equipe, whose father, Roland Fangille, created the event back in 1971.

"Before Dad passed away, he had already told me that it was becoming increasingly difficult, that we might have to stop. His words kept going through my head; I didn't want to go back into that mess. But the association's board wanted to continue, so I went along with it."

For the on-going edition, Fangille and her team have made significant changes to try and prevent similar incidents from reocurring. The roads are now closing 20 minutes before the peloton passes, instead of previously 10. The policemen motorcycles are solely assigned to the peloton bubble and ten civilian motorcycles take on the job of announcing hazards.

Well-aware of the dangers pro riders face daily, former Arkéa-Samsic rider Romain Leroux is now the race's security director: "It would have hurt me to stop there; we would have thought about it all our lives. But we had things to change. Couldn't we have avoided this? We took measures in that direction, we thought about a different way of working."

Compared to last year's 21, there's only 16 teams on the starting line this year. Absent are many high-profile outfits including INEOS Grenadiers, Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe, Soudal - Quick-Step and Lidl-Trek.

"The first teams invited were those who went all the way last year," Fangille explained. "Afterwards, I sent invitations to the others. But if a team like Lidl, for example, had accepted, I wouldn’t have said no because they’ve been there for years. Whereas Soudal and Bora only came last year, and they’re the ones who thrashed us."

With the race continuing into 2026, several French natives from the world of cycling were delighted, such as Groupama - FDJ team boss Marc Madiot: "I have a lot of admiration for the Fangille family. These are the true cycling people."

Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling DS Laurent Pichon highlighted the importance of smaller races: "Happy to be here, at a French race that's still going strong. If the organizers aren't there, there are no races, no teams, no riders, there's nothing."