Preview Etoile de Bessèges 2026 - Decathlon and Unibet to fight for French overall win

The 2026 Etoile de Bessèges will be taking place from the 4th to the 8th of February and will be the first stage-race of the season in France, and one of the first in Europe. The race features opportunities for the sprinters, classics riders and time trialists to perform. We preview the race ahead.

One of the cornerstone early-season stage races on the European cycling calendar... First held in 1971 as a one-day event called the Grand Prix Bessèges, it evolved into a multi-day stage race by 1974 and has been a five-day fixture almost every year since, marking the dawn of the professional road season in southern France each February.

Over the decades there has been a wide variety of winners in this race, big names who have marked generations: Jan Raas, Eddy Planckaerts, Adrie van der Poel, Robbie McEwen, Thomas Voeckler... This decade we have seen GC wins from Benoît Cosnefroy, Tim Wellens, Benjamin Thomas, Neilson Powless, Mads Pedersen and most recently Kévin Vauquelin who dominated the 2025 edition with victories at the queen stage and final time trial.

The race starts off in Bellegarde as usual with a circuit that is almost completely flat, however features an 800-meter long climb that coincides with the finish line and has 8% average gradient. It is one of the most explosive finishes of the year and is one where both sprinters and puncheurs have equal chances of succeeding in.

Stage 2 is going to be a day for the sprinters, without a doubt. There will be a little bit more climbing throughout the entire stage however the finale is significantly more gentle, and the flat finale into Domessargues will provide the pure sprinters with their chance at success.

Stage 3 is a Bessèges classic already, with the stage starting and finishing in the town that the race has been named after. It is a stage characterized by its final circuit which features two rolling climbs. These can be used for attacks and a GC battle, to thin down the peloton, or even to crown the success of a breakaway. A sprint however remains quite possible at the end of the day.

The fourth stage of the race is its novelty, with the organizers removing a climbing challenge and instead putting in another punchy finish, tis time into Vauvert. Like most of the previous stages, it is a day for the sprinters, but one where the puncheurs can perform. The finale is explosive and the final 500 meters are on a slight uphill which evens things out between many riders.

The race finishes with its traditional time trial in Alès, which is flat almost in its entirety, until the the final 1.8 kilometers which average out at 7%. This ascent however is very steep at points, going up to almost 20% and making it a proper difficult end to the race.

*** Paul Lapeira, Niklas Larsen
** Jordan Labrosse, Maxime Decomble
* Ewen Costiou, Hugo Houle, Lorenzo Rota, Dylan Teuns, Sandy Dujardin, Andrea Misfud, Lukas Kubis

Pick: Paul Lapeira