"I was very affected by the situation... The security was insufficient" - Julien Bernard recalls his genuine fear during Etoile de Bessèges

The 2025 Etoile de Bessèges was a race marred by controversy. After instances of cars driving onto the course mid-race, the peloton took action, with many of the leading lights abandoning the race in protest at rider safety. One of the men who did just that, was Lidl-Trek's Julien Bernard. 

In conversation with Cyclism'Actu, the 32-year-old Frenchman, who made worldwide headlines during the 2024 Tour de France when he met with family and friends during some incredibly heart-warming scenes during an individual time trial, detailed his genuine fear at the conditions and lack of rider safety during the French stage race this year. "It is a complex subject. For Bessèges, I was very affected by the situation," he recalls. "We were given two choices, but neither was good. I respect the organizers, but the security was insufficient."

At the time, it seemed as if the riders and the peloton were at odds over the situation. "The riders must understand that it is not easy for us, the organizers. Apart from ASO, it is difficult to privatize the roads," race owner Claudine Fangille told MidiLibre. "If the riders do not let the gendarmes' motorcycles pass during a race, the gendarmes cannot secure the race. Otherwise, we end up with this, with what happened... We have the same group of police officers as last year, they are not novices. The police stopped yesterday's car twice, it restarts. What do we do? Apart from putting someone on each road?"

As it turns out, Besseges wasn't the only race in the early portion of 2025 to invoke some controversy and drama. Although Bernard himself wasn't present, the Frenchman also passed judgement in his Cyclism'Actu interview on what happened at the recent Volta ao Algarve, where the majority of the peloton took a wrong turning inside the final kilometre, ending up on the wrong side of the barriers for the final sprint.

"For Algarve, the error may seem avoidable from the outside, but in the middle of the effort, with the adrenaline, it is difficult," Bernard assesses of the incident that could have easily ended with injury to either rider or spectator. "The route should be more clearly marked or barriered. No one is solely responsible, everyone has their part. The goal is to work together to improve security."