Preview Tour de la Provence 2026 - INEOS and Lidl-Trek fight for win with Montagne de Lure making its return

The 2026 Tour de la Provence will take place from the 13th to the 15th of February, giving continuation to the French stage-racing calendar and also returning to the mountains, where the race has in the past seen notable performances. We preview the race ahead.

The French race was first held in 2016 and its very first winner was one of France's most iconic figures: Thomas Voeckler. Rohan Dennis won the following edition, and the race surged into the spotlight back in 2020 when Nairo Quintana set an incredible climbing performance on Chalet Reynard - the toughest part of the climb to Mont Ventoux, the region's most reputable climb.

It is a race that changes its route quite often and hence, it allows different types of riders to battle for victory. After not being held in 2023, the race returned in 2024 and the two previous editions have been won by Lidl-Trek's Mads Pedersen. These weren't victories taken due to his sprinting power, but rather his ability to ride the hilly terrain, as last year he also beat Matej Mohoric.

The opening stage of the race takes place from Marseille to Saint-Victoret and it is a roller-coaster of a stage, lacking any big climb however presenting plenty of them throughout the day. 2400 meters of climbing in 163 kilometers, starting right from kilometer 0.

The riders take on plenty ascents, in which attacks may come at any time. The last notable of which comes with 30 kilometers to go, but most of the finale has a downhill trend which also makes it rather hard to put on an effective chase. All--in-all, a day that is designed to be hard to control and quite chaotic.

The queen stage of the race sees the riders return to the Station de Lure, the climb which hosted the race's most recent mountain stage back in its 2022 edition, where Nairo Quintana took the win. It is not as difficult as Chalet Reynard, but is a proper climbing tests, specially in mid-February when many riders are still working on their form.

The 175-kilometer long stage is not particularly hard, it features some small climbs but the efforts will mostly be guided towards the summit finish. The climb is 13.7 kilometers long at 6.4% and should make the race's key differences for the overall classification.

The final stage of the race finally provides a proper opportunity for the sprinters to have unmatched competition, although the day is anything but easy. The first third does feature some tough terrain where a strong group may go up the road, but the finale is fully flat into Arles, after 205 kilometers on the road.

*** Matthew Riccitello, Carlos Rodríguez
** Mathias Vacek, Neilson Powless
* Tao Geoghegan Hart, Aurélien Paret-Peintre, Guillaume Martin, Brandon Rivera, Wout Poels, Clément Champoussin

Pick: Matthew Riccitello