Preview Etoile de Bessèges 2026 stage 4 - Can Lukas Kubis take the win on the third attempt?

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 4, which is set to start at 12:20 and finish at 15:50CET.

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 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.

*** Henri Uhlig, Lukas Kubis
** Mathieu Kockelmann, Tom Crabbe
* Matteo Moschetti, Dylan Groenewegen, Sandy Dujardin, Paul Lapeira, Clément Izquierdo, Maxime Decomble

Pick: Lukas Kubis

How: The consistency has been there. Won't be easy to turn it into a victory but I believe the uphill sprint provides him with better chances.