Results La Route d'Occitanie - CIC 2026 Stage 1 - Thibaud Gruel takes opening sprint win and leader's jersey ahead of Mikhels and Zingle

Groupama - FDJ United and Thibaud Gruel enjoyed a successful start to La Route d'Occitanie - CIC, winning the first stage's sprint to the line. In a stage that included two late breakaway attempts, Gruel took his first win in almost a year ahead of Madis Mikhels and Axel Zingle in second and third.

The 2026 La Route d'Occitanie - CIC kicked off with an opening stage from Bram to Saint-Paul-Cap-de-Joux over 172 kilometers. With over 2,100 meters of climbing on the menu, the race was sure to be selective from the start.

Two laps of a local circuit to the finish line included two categorised climbs but several other unmarked climbs. Four WorldTour teams also took to the start line, with Visma | Lease a Bike, Decathlon CMA CGM, Groupama-FDJ United and EF Education-EasyPost all in action.

With many teams hungry to get up the road, it took quite a while for a breakaway to form before four riders got themselves a gap. Cofidis' Jamie Meehan was joined by Oliver Mattheis, Theo Delacroix and Laurens Huys as they forged a gap of just over a minute with 63 kilometers left to go.

The bunch began closing in before Huys made a move - dropping his breakaway contenders and going solo as the speed in the bunch increased once more. That was enough to also catch him as the race reset with around 38 kilometers left.

Visma soon became more active at the front as attacks came, with Mattia Bais and Jean-Loup Fayolle forging a gap of almost 20 seconds with just over 20 kilometers left and they'd soon get more wiggle room.

With the Cote de Fiac impending, and threatening to form the springboard for attacks for stage glory, the duo out front were caught. Decathlon drove the pace at the front on the climb but the peloton came over the climb together.

Groupama - FDJ United looked to control affairs in the run-in to the line as an uphill to the line loomed. Alexandre Balmer took off late and held a small gap going into the final 600 meters before being caught with just 400 to go. Madis Mikhels launched the sprint but it was Thibaud Gruel who came around to take victory. Axel Zingle completed the podium as Gruel will now wear the leader's jersey.