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 take a look at the startlist.
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.
Download the startlist in A4. After last year’s problems with traffic control and cars on course, it is no surprise to see the race’s startlist thinned down significantly. Last year several races left the race due to lack of safety conditions, and they have not returned.
There are four World Tour teams at the start: Groupama – FDJ, Alpecin – Premier Tech, Decathlon CMA CGM Team and Lotto – Intermarché, however all of them with very modest lineups. Decathlon and Dylan Groenewegen’s Unibet Rose Rockets are set to be the teams having the spotlight the most this week.
Startlist Etoile de Bessèges 2026
Groupama – FDJ United
1 Costiou, Ewen
2 Barthe, Cyril
3 Decomble, Maxime
4 Germani, Lorenzo
5 Huens, Axel
6 Agnoletto, Blake
7 Loulergue, Victor
Alpecin – Premier Tech
11 Houle, Hugo
12 Bayer, Tobias
13 Belmans, Lennert
14 Debruyne, Ramses
15 Uhlig, Henri
16 Roesems, Siebe
17 Ramsay, Noah
Decathlon CMA CGM Team
21 Lapeira, Paul
22 Pestel, Sander De
23 Haugland, Kasper
24 Isidore, Noa
25 Labrosse, Jordan
26 Pedersen, Rasmus Søjberg
27 Pringle, Nate
Lotto – Intermarché
31 Grignard, Sébastien
32 Grisel, Matys
33 Kockelmann, Mathieu
34 Rota, Lorenzo
35 Slock, Liam
36 Imamura, Shunsuke
37 Wynkele, Lorenz Van de
Cofidis
41 Teuns, Dylan
42 Biermans, Jenthe
43 Renard, Alexis
44 Izquierdo, Clément
45 Maas, Jan
46 Ourselin, Paul
Pinarello – Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
51 Azparren, Xabier Mikel
52 Calzoni, Walter
53 Gendt, Aimé De
54 Małecki, Kamil
55 Parisini, Nicolò
56 Moschetti, Matteo
57 Zukowsky, Nick
TotalEnergies
62 Delettre, Alexandre
62 Dujardin, Sandy
63 Leroux, Samuel
64 Vadic, Baptiste
65 Brunel, Alexys
66 Retailleau, Valentin
67 Marcerou, Nicola
Team Flanders – Baloise
71 Crabbe, Tom
72 Deweirdt, Siebe
73 Deman, Brem
74 Hemelen, Vincent Van
75 Vandenstorme, Dylan
76 Vanhoof, Ward
77 Vercouillie, Victor
Team Polti VisitMalta
91 Bessega, Tommaso
92 Giuliano, Dario
93 Muñoz, Fran
94 Peñalver, Manuel
95 Raccagni, Gabriele
96 Mifsud, Andrea
97 Bais, Davide
Unibet Rose Rockets
101 Groenewegen, Dylan
102 Augé, Ronan
103 Reinders, Elmar
104 Kopecký, Tomáš
105 Kubiš, Lukáš
106 Larsen, Niklas
107 Mouris, Wessel
Solution Tech NIPPO Rali
111 Viviani, Attilio
112 Verrando, Luca
113 Balmer, Alexandre
114 Meo, Felix James
115 Granger, Ben
116 Piras, Andrea
117 Rajović, Dušan
Van Rysel Roubaix
121 Heremans, Joppe
122 Tendon, Arnaud
123 Raugel, Antoine
124 Hardouin, Louis
125 Théot, Killian
126 Huck, Léandre
127 Avoine, Kévin
St Michel – Preference Home – Auber93
131 Cardis, Romain
132 Bouquet, Axel
133 Delacroix, Théo
134 Guglielmi, Simon
135 Lecroq, Jérémy
136 Champion, Thomas
137 Niekerk, Morné van
Nice Métropole Côte dAzur
141 Hänninen, Jaakko
142 Konijn, Alexander
143 Mainguenaud, Tom
144 Huys, Laurens
145 Gillet, Baptiste
146 Papon, Victor
147 Davy, Clément
CIC Pro Cycling Academy
151 Vezie, Maxime
152 Guernalec, Victor
153 Guégan, Maël
154 Sanlaville, Mathias
155 Lozouet, Léandre
156 Langella, Lenaïc
157 Hamon, Similien
Elite Fondations Cycling Team
161 George, Alfred
162 Tissières, Arnaud
163 Bagou, Guillaume
164 Aebersold, Nils
165 Sommer, Jan
166 Jean, Victor
167 Darbellay, Valentin