Preview Etoile de Bessèges 2026 stage 1 - Race wide open for opening 10% sprint

The 2026 Etoile de Bessèges will be taking place from the 4th to the 8th of February and is the first stage-race of the season in France, and one of the first in Europe. We preview stage 1, which is set to start at 12:40 and finish at 16:00CET.

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 Planckaert, 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.

Lukas Kubis will be a big favourite to win the opening stage for a Unibet Rose Rockets that is putting significant resources into this race; but Decathlon with the puncheur duo of Paul Lapeira and Jordan Labrosse can take on the sprinters who are in a small number this year.

*** Jordan Labrosse, Lukas Kubis
** Paul Lapeira, Sandy Dujardin
* Alexandre Delettre, Henri Uhlig, Ewen Costiou, Tomas Kopecky

Pick: Jordan Labrosse

How: Sprint between those who can climb.