2023 Etoile de Bessèges (2.1), France

53rd edition: February 1 - 5, 2023

Etoile de Bessèges podium history | 2022 edition | 2024 edition | Start list
Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 | Stage 4 | Stage 5

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Sunday, February 5: 5th & Final Stage, Alès 10.66 km individual time trial

Neilson Powless on his way to winning the 2023 Etoile de Bessèges by a single second.

Les Woodland's book Dirty Feet: How the Great Unwashed Created the Tour de France is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Weather at the race city of Alès at 1:40 PM, local time: 14C (57F), partly cloudy, with the wind from the north at 35 km/hr (22 mph). No rain is forecast.

The race: Here's the report from GC winner Neilson Powless' Team EF Education-EasyPost.

The five-day stage race came down to a single second after over 11 hours of racing across the south of France. Neilson rode a stellar time trial on the final day, leaving every ounce of strength he had left on the road to the top of the race’s last climb. In the end, Neilson had just enough power to put five seconds into his main rival Mattias Skjelmose and take the winner’s shirt.

“I knew I would have to ride the TT just off of feel,” the American says. “At the end of a stage race, it’s all just about what you feel and how much you have left in the tank. I’m just so happy I could repay all the hard work that my teammates gave and get some redemption for myself. This feels amazing.

Neilson and his EF Education-EasyPost teammates made all the right moves during the first four stages to stay within striking distance of the winner’s jersey. Going into Sunday’s 10.6-km TT, Neilson was just four seconds back from the lead. He had gone on the offensive Saturday when the race hit the crosswinds and finished second at the summit of Mont Bouquet. On Sunday, he was determined to get the victory to reward his teammates.

“I was really torn up that I slipped up on my tactics at the very end yesterday,” Neilson says. “I knew I had to be first into that final corner, but Skjelmose knew the same thing. He just went earlier than I was anticipating so he got the better of me at the very end but I felt like I still had a lot left to give so I really wanted to make up for that today. It’s not possible to win a race like this with all these cross winds and punchy finishes and stages where every day you have to have perfect position almost the whole day without an impeccable team, a good race plan, a good strategy, a good director.

"Across the board, the staff, my teammates, the director, everybody was just 100% committed to winning this race overall. We couldn’t lose focus for one second, because every day the wind was blowing. The crosswinds were tearing the race apart every day. To not put a foot wrong over five days of that is just such a testament to how strong our team is and how committed we were and how good of teammates I have here. I couldn’t have picked a better team if I had my pick of the whole WorldTour to support me this week. It just makes me so proud to be a part of this team.”

For Neilson personally, this victory, and his win earlier this season at the Grand Prix La Marseillaise, affirm his ambitions for 2023.

“It feels amazing to have two wins now already,” Neilson says. “It gives me a lot of confidence and it makes me feel very proud of how far I’ve been able to come and develop as a bike rider and show my standard as a bike racer, not just as a climber or a time trialist or a puncheur. Here, I was able to show my ability to really be a part of the race across any terrain. I think that’s my strength: my ability to be a part of the race no matter what. I’ve grown a lot in terms of my ability to follow my teammates well and use them well. I think it’s really created a nice atmosphere in the team and now I have that confidence to start to lead the team better.”

We could not have had a better leader in Bessegès. Congratulations Neilson. Congratulations to his teammates at the race: Magnus Cort, Stefan Bissegger, Simon Carr, Andrea Piccolo, Mark Padun, and Ben Healy. Onwards!

Comple Results:

10.66 kilometers raced at an average speed of 41.488 km/hr

1	Mads Pedersen	Trek-Segafredo	15min 25sec
2	Joshua Tarling	INEOS Grenadiers	@ 8sec
3	Ben Tulett	INEOS Grenadiers	0:10
4	Kévin Vauquelin	Arkéa-Samsic	0:11
5	Pierre Latour	TotalEnergies	0:15
6	Magnus Cort	EF Education-EasyPost	0:20
7	Ben Turner	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
8	Neilson Powless	EF Education-EasyPost	0:21
9	Mattias Skjelmose	Trek-Segafredo	0:26
10	Bruno Armirail	Groupama-FDJ	0:s.t.
11	Joel Suter	Tudor Pro Cycling	0:28
12	Stefan Bissegger	EF Education-EasyPost	0:39
13	Thibaut Pinot	Groupama-FDJ	0:46
14	Anthony Perez	Cofidis	0:48
15	Simon Carr	EF Education-EasyPost	0:49
16	Thibault Guernalec	Arkéa-Samsic	0:51
17	Pavel Sivakov	INEOS Grenadiers	0:52
18	Rasmus Tiller	Uno-X	0:53
19	Benjamin Thomas	Cofidis	s.t.
20	Pierre-Luc Périchon	Cofidis	0:55
21	Julien Bernard	Trek-Segafredo	1:01
22	Mathieu Burgaudeau	TotalEnergies	s.t.
23	Hugo Houle	Israel-Premier Tech	1:02
24	Markus Hoelgaard	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
25	Dylan Teuns	Israel-Premier Tech	1:03
26	Michael Leonard	INEOS Grenadiers	1:04
27	Krists Neilands	Israel-Premier Tech	1:06
28	Andrea Piccolo	EF Education-EasyPost	1:07
29	Julian Lino	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
30	Sam Watson	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
31	Arnaud De Lie	Lotto Dstny	1:10
32	Valentin Ferron	TotalEnergies	s.t.
33	Fredrik Dversnes	Uno-X	1:11
34	Raúl García	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
35	Jenno Berckmoes	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
36	Franck Bonnamour	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
37	Alexandre Delettre	Cofidis	s.t.
38	Julien Simon	TotalEnergies	s.t.
39	Brent Van Moer	Lotto Dstny	1:12
40	Axel Laurance	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
41	Alexander Kamp	Tudor Pro Cycling	s.t.
42	Toms Skujins	Trek-Segafredo	1:13
43	Pau Miquel Delgado	Equipo Kern Pharma	1:15
44	Milan Fretin	Team Flanders-Baloise	1:23
45	Danny Van Der Tuuk	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
46	Alan Riou	Arkéa-Samsic	1:26
47	Thomas Champion	Cofidis	1:27
48	Erik Resell	Uno-X	1:28
49	Jacopo Mosca	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
50	Tom Bohli	Tudor Pro Cycling	s.t.
51	Laurent Pichon	Arkéa-Samsic	1:33
52	Nicolas Debeaumarché	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
53	Thomas Bonnet	TotalEnergies	1:34
54	Lawrence Warbasse	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
55	Sep Vanmarcke	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
56	Samuel Leroux	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	s.t.
57	Fabio Van Den Bossche	Alpecin-Deceuninck	1:35
58	Vito Braet	Team Flanders-Baloise	1:36
59	Luke Rowe	INEOS Grenadiers	1:37
60	Andrea Mifsud	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	1:40
61	Louis Barré	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
62	Liam Slock	Lotto Dstny	1:41
63	Lucas Eriksson	Tudor Pro Cycling	s.t.
64	Benoît Cosnefroy	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
65	Mark Padun	EF Education-EasyPost	1:43
66	Oliver Naesen	Ag2r-Citroën	1:45
67	Petr Kelemen	Tudor Pro Cycling	s.t.
68	Oded Kogut	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
69	Greg Van Avermaet	Ag2r-Citroën	1:46
70	Théo Delacroix	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
71	Kristoffer Halvorsen	Uno-X	s.t.
72	Simon Pellaud	Tudor Pro Cycling	1:49
73	Valentin Paret-Peintre	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
74	Elias Maris	Team Flanders-Baloise	1:52
75	Anthony Turgis	TotalEnergies	1:53
76	Dries De Bondt	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
77	Gilles De Wilde	Team Flanders-Baloise	1:55
78	Nadav Raisberg	Israel-Premier Tech	1:56
79	Remy Mertz	Bingoal WB	s.t.
80	Hugo Toumire	Cofidis	1:57
81	Dries Van Gestel	TotalEnergies	1:59
82	Michal Kwiatkowski	INEOS Grenadiers	2:00
83	Alex Jaime	Equipo Kern Pharma	2:02
84	Luca Mozzato	Arkéa-Samsic	2:04
85	Lionel Taminiaux	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
86	Luca Van Boven	Bingoal WB	2:08
87	Johan Meens	Bingoal WB	2:10
88	Martin Urianstad Bugge	Uno-X	2:11
89	Robbe Ghys	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
90	Romain Cardis	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	2:12
91	Aaron Van Poucke	Team Flanders-Baloise	2:14
92	William Blume Levy	Uno-X	2:15
93	Edward Planckaert	Alpecin-Deceuninck	2:17
94	Ayco Bastiaens	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
95	Jordan Jegat	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	2:18
96	Enzo Paleni	Groupama-FDJ	2:20
97	Valentin Retailleau	Ag2r-Citroën	2:21
98	Ludovic Robeet	Bingoal WB	2:23
99	Jelle Wallays	Cofidis	s.t.
100	Larry Valvasori	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	2:24
101	Jean-Louis Le Ny	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	2:27
102	Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	2:28
103	Jérémy Leveau	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	2:29
104	Jasper De Buyst	Lotto Dstny	2:31
105	Maël Guégan	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	2:32
106	Norman Vahtra	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	2:35
107	Fabian Lienhard	Groupama-FDJ	2:38
108	Flavien Maurelet	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	2:42
109	Emmanuel Morin	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	2:51
110	Anthony Maldonado	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	2:56
111	Léo Danès	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	2:58
112	Daniel Mclay	Arkéa-Samsic	3:01

 

Final GC after stage 5:

• GC winner: Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost)
• Points classification winner: Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny)
• Mountains classification winner: Vito Braet (Team Flanders-Baloise)
• Best young rider: Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo)
• Teams classification winner: TotalEnergies

490.05 kilometers raced at an average speed of 43.723 km/hr

1	Neilson Powless	EF Education-EasyPost	11hr 12min 30sec
2	Mattias Skjelmose	Trek-Segafredo	@ 1sec
3	Pierre Latour	TotalEnergies	0:12
4	Kévin Vauquelin	Arkéa-Samsic	1:12
5	Pavel Sivakov	INEOS Grenadiers	1:27
6	Thibaut Pinot	Groupama-FDJ	1:58
7	Arnaud De Lie	Lotto Dstny	2:04
8	Hugo Houle	Israel-Premier Tech	2:27
9	Anthony Perez	Cofidis	2:36
10	Joel Suter	Tudor Pro Cycling	2:53
11	Benjamin Thomas	Cofidis	s.t.
12	Krists Neilands	Israel-Premier Tech	2:54
13	Julien Bernard	Trek-Segafredo	2:57
14	Pau Miquel Delgado	Equipo Kern Pharma	3:08
15	Dylan Teuns	Israel-Premier Tech	3:18
16	Franck Bonnamour	Ag2r-Citroën	3:19
17	Mathieu Burgaudeau	TotalEnergies	3:43
18	Axel Laurance	Alpecin-Deceuninck	3:59
19	Raúl García	Equipo Kern Pharma	4:10
20	Greg Van Avermaet	Ag2r-Citroën	4:45
21	Valentin Ferron	TotalEnergies	4:51
22	Fredrik Dversnes	Uno-X	5:10
23	Jenno Berckmoes	Team Flanders-Baloise	5:33
24	Lucas Eriksson	Tudor Pro Cycling	5:47
25	Brent Van Moer	Lotto Dstny	6:41
26	Thomas Bonnet	TotalEnergies	6:50
27	Alexandre Delettre	Cofidis	7:22
28	Théo Delacroix	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	7:50
29	Oliver Naesen	Ag2r-Citroën	8:00
30	Simon Pellaud	Tudor Pro Cycling	8:18
31	Louis Barré	Arkéa-Samsic	8:32
32	Julien Simon	TotalEnergies	9:21
33	Petr Kelemen	Tudor Pro Cycling	10:14
34	Sep Vanmarcke	Israel-Premier Tech	10:22
35	Martin Urianstad Bugge	Uno-X	10:57
36	Anthony Turgis	TotalEnergies	11:07
37	Thibault Guernalec	Arkéa-Samsic	11:30
38	Ben Turner	INEOS Grenadiers	11:43
39	Benoît Cosnefroy	Ag2r-Citroën	11:52
40	Jordan Jegat	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	12:20
41	Luca Van Boven	Bingoal WB	12:23
42	Remy Mertz	Bingoal WB	12:54
43	Fabio Van Den Bossche	Alpecin-Deceuninck	14:21
44	Dries Van Gestel	TotalEnergies	14:27
45	Rasmus Tiller	Uno-X	14:28
46	Jasper De Buyst	Lotto Dstny	14:48
47	Maël Guégan	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	15:00
48	Erik Resell	Uno-X	15:01
49	Ben Tulett	INEOS Grenadiers	15:40
50	Luca Mozzato	Arkéa-Samsic	15:51
51	Markus Hoelgaard	Trek-Segafredo	15:53
52	Bruno Armirail	Groupama-FDJ	15:54
53	Lawrence Warbasse	Ag2r-Citroën	16:09
54	Michal Kwiatkowski	INEOS Grenadiers	16:23
55	Sam Watson	Groupama-FDJ	16:33
56	Joshua Tarling	INEOS Grenadiers	16:41
57	Andrea Piccolo	EF Education-EasyPost	17:14
58	Magnus Cort	EF Education-EasyPost	17:35
59	Gilles De Wilde	Team Flanders-Baloise	17:58
60	Luke Rowe	INEOS Grenadiers	18:10
61	Nadav Raisberg	Israel-Premier Tech	18:58
62	Andrea Mifsud	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	19:43
63	Nicolas Debeaumarché	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	20:21
64	Hugo Toumire	Cofidis	20:34
65	Romain Cardis	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	20:36
66	Valentin Retailleau	Ag2r-Citroën	20:51
67	Kristoffer Halvorsen	Uno-X	21:34
68	Toms Skujins	Trek-Segafredo	21:41
69	Mads Pedersen	Trek-Segafredo	22:08
70	Danny Van Der Tuuk	Equipo Kern Pharma	22:23
71	Tom Bohli	Tudor Pro Cycling	22:32
72	Stefan Bissegger	EF Education-EasyPost	22:43
73	Elias Maris	Team Flanders-Baloise	22:47
74	Pierre-Luc Périchon	Cofidis	22:50
75	Dries De Bondt	Alpecin-Deceuninck	23:01
76	Edward Planckaert	Alpecin-Deceuninck	23:12
77	Liam Slock	Lotto Dstny	23:55
78	Johan Meens	Bingoal WB	24:04
79	Lionel Taminiaux	Alpecin-Deceuninck	24:16
80	Norman Vahtra	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	24:34
81	Jacopo Mosca	Trek-Segafredo	25:47
82	Samuel Leroux	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	26:56
83	Jean-Louis Le Ny	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	27:07
84	Anthony Maldonado	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	27:30
85	Laurent Pichon	Arkéa-Samsic	28:04
86	Michael Leonard	INEOS Grenadiers	28:13
87	Ayco Bastiaens	Alpecin-Deceuninck	29:27
88	Léo Danès	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	29:58
89	Alex Jaime	Equipo Kern Pharma	31:36
90	Flavien Maurelet	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	31:46
91	Jelle Wallays	Cofidis	31:57
92	Alan Riou	Arkéa-Samsic	32:15
93	Aaron Van Poucke	Team Flanders-Baloise	32:25
94	Julian Lino	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	32:27
95	Milan Fretin	Team Flanders-Baloise	33:26
96	Valentin Paret-Peintre	Ag2r-Citroën	33:37
97	Alexander Kamp	Tudor Pro Cycling	33:40
98	Fabian Lienhard	Groupama-FDJ	33:41
99	Emmanuel Morin	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	35:27
100	Mark Padun	EF Education-EasyPost	35:58
101	Ludovic Robeet	Bingoal WB	36:00
102	Larry Valvasori	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	36:01
103	Jérémy Leveau	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	36:34
104	Daniel Mclay	Arkéa-Samsic	37:36
105	Thomas Champion	Cofidis	37:39
106	Vito Braet	Team Flanders-Baloise	38:22
107	William Blume Levy	Uno-X	39:44
108	Robbe Ghys	Alpecin-Deceuninck	41:26
109	Enzo Paleni	Groupama-FDJ	43:36
110	Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	44:06
111	Simon Carr	EF Education-EasyPost	45:44
112	Oded Kogut	Israel-Premier Tech	46:40

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Saturday, February 4: Stage 4, St. Christol les Alès - Mont Bouquet, 145.5 km

Mont Bouquet is a 1st-category ascent.

Mattias Skjelmose beats Neilson Powless to the line. Sirotti photo

Stoic philosopher Epictetus' Golden Sayings is available in both audiobook & Kindle eBook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Weather at Brouzet-les Alès, on the route, 4.6 km from the finish at 1:25 PM, local time: 15C (59F), sunny, with the wind from the north at 45 km/hr (28 mph). No rain is forecast.

The race: Here's the report from stage winner and new GC leader Mattias Skjelmose's Team Trek-Segafredo.

The wind was fierce once again for the fourth stage of Etoile de Bessèges and the ever-wary Trek-Segafredo team was primed for action. After just 32km the race split to pieces in the early crosswinds, but Trek-Segafredo were in a great position with Mads Pedersen, Mattias Skjelmose, Toms Skujins and Jacopo Mosca in the front group, giving them a significant numerical advantage. The objective was simple – put Skjelmose in the best position possible for the summit finish at Mont Bouquet. With little to separate the GC so far, it was clear that the Queen Stage would play a significant role in deciding the race General Classification, as well as the final stage time trial.

Pedersen, Mosca and Skujins put on a textbook teamwork performance, going as deep as they could to drag their small group along, ahead of an unrelenting peloton. When they reached Mont Bouquet (4.6km, 9% avg.) it was all down to Skjelmose to finish off their sacrifice. Neilson Powless made the first move, leaving a game of poker between our young Dane and the two other chasers. Skjelmose bid his time before jumping across to the American. When he did, he made sure that the other chasers couldn’t follow him. After a moment to catch his breath, Mattias made use of his fast finish to speed past Powless for the win.

In the winner’s words:
“It was a pretty special day, full stretch from the first part and then Mads just told me straight away “take it easy, stay with me.” Even though we were pretty far back he just took it out to the left and easily put me in the first group without me having to stress. Then Mads, Jacopo and Toms worked like motherfuckers all day. I didn’t need to do anything, only had to pay attention to eat and drink and keep myself out of the wind. Then I just had to finish off their work. When the Team works like they did today there’s no such thing as bad legs, you only can have good legs and I’m so happy I could finish it off.

"We had a plan and we didn’t think that it would kick off like that, just that it would be more stressful like the first days but then suddenly it happened and we were there so we kept it going. We kept the effort all the way to the finish which I think is amazing because there were a lot more guys working in the peloton than in our group.

"I actually hoped the other guys would follow Powless. When they didn’t, the gap was too big so I had to wait a little bit for the steep part so I didn’t drag the other guys across. At the steep part I did my own rhythm over to Powless. I felt pretty good in the end so I’m happy with how it went.

"I think it’s the best situation for me to be in. I’m really motivated after today and I just want to finish it off so I can pay back the guys for all their work.”

Complete results:

145.5 kilometers raced at an average speed of 43.136 km/hr

1	Mattias Skjelmose	Trek-Segafredo	3hr 22min 23sec
2	Neilson Powless	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
3	Pierre Latour	TotalEnergies	@ 13sec
4	Pavel Sivakov	INEOS Grenadiers	0:19
5	Kévin Vauquelin	Arkéa-Samsic	1:06
6	Thibaut Pinot	Groupama-FDJ	1:17
7	Hugo Houle	Israel-Premier Tech	1:30
8	Arnaud De Lie	Lotto Dstny	1:34
9	Julien Bernard	Trek-Segafredo	1:40
10	Axel Laurance	Alpecin-Deceuninck	1:53
11	Anthony Perez	Cofidis	s.t.
12	Jordan Jegat	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	1:58
13	Raúl García	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
14	Franck Bonnamour	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
15	Krists Neilands	Israel-Premier Tech	2:00
16	Pau Miquel Delgado	Equipo Kern Pharma	2:05
17	Brent Van Moer	Lotto Dstny	s.t.
18	Thomas Bonnet	TotalEnergies	s.t.
19	Benjamin Thomas	Cofidis	s.t.
20	Joel Suter	Tudor Pro Cycling	2:09
21	Andrea Mifsud	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	2:11
22	Erik Resell	Uno-X	2:12
23	Dylan Teuns	Israel-Premier Tech	2:32
24	Fredrik Dversnes	Uno-X	2:43
25	Mathieu Burgaudeau	TotalEnergies	2:47
26	Simon Pellaud	Tudor Pro Cycling	2:50
27	Remy Mertz	Bingoal WB	2:54
28	Johannes Adamietz	Lotto Dstny	3:01
29	Greg Van Avermaet	Ag2r-Citroën	3:04
30	Théo Delacroix	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	3:12
31	Lucas Eriksson	Tudor Pro Cycling	3:24
32	Jenno Berckmoes	Team Flanders-Baloise	3:28
33	Julien Simon	TotalEnergies	3:41
34	Valentin Ferron	TotalEnergies	s.t.
35	Martin Urianstad Bugge	Uno-X	4:21
36	Oliver Naesen	Ag2r-Citroën	4:56
37	Gilles De Wilde	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
38	Petr Kelemen	Tudor Pro Cycling	s.t.
39	Alexandre Delettre	Cofidis	5:29
40	Louis Barré	Arkéa-Samsic	6:57
41	Romain Cardis	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
42	Hugo Toumire	Cofidis	7:10
43	Luca Van Boven	Bingoal WB	7:12
44	Nicolas Debeaumarché	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	7:21
45	Maël Guégan	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	8:23
46	Dries Van Gestel	TotalEnergies	8:32
47	Sep Vanmarcke	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
48	Nadav Raisberg	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
49	Anthony Turgis	TotalEnergies	s.t.
50	Rasmus Tiller	Uno-X	s.t.
51	Kristoffer Halvorsen	Uno-X	s.t.
52	Ben Turner	INEOS Grenadiers	9:14
53	Edward Planckaert	Alpecin-Deceuninck	9:28
54	Dries De Bondt	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
55	Liam Slock	Lotto Dstny	s.t.
56	Fabio Van Den Bossche	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
57	Elias Maris	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
58	Lionel Taminiaux	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
59	Jean-Louis Le Ny	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
60	Thibault Guernalec	Arkéa-Samsic	10:35
61	Tom Bohli	Tudor Pro Cycling	s.t.
62	Stefan Bissegger	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
63	Norman Vahtra	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	s.t.
64	Lawrence Warbasse	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
65	Benoît Cosnefroy	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
66	Jasper De Buyst	Lotto Dstny	10:44
67	Michal Kwiatkowski	INEOS Grenadiers	11:08
68	Luke Rowe	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
69	Joshua Tarling	INEOS Grenadiers	11:08
70	Guillaume Boivin	Israel-Premier Tech	11:51
71	Magnus Cort	EF Education-EasyPost	11:58
72	Mark Padun	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
73	Toms Skujins	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
74	Jacopo Mosca	Trek-Segafredo	12:00
75	Mads Pedersen	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
76	Markus Hoelgaard	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
77	Luca Mozzato	Arkéa-Samsic	12:04
78	Andrea Piccolo	EF Education-EasyPost	13:01
79	Johan Meens	Bingoal WB	14:51
80	Valentin Retailleau	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
81	Ayco Bastiaens	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
82	Laurent Pichon	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
83	Bruno Armirail	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
84	Ludovic Robeet	Bingoal WB	14:59
85	William Blume Levy	Uno-X	15:12
86	Sam Watson	Groupama-FDJ	15:42
87	Michael Leonard	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
88	Ben Tulett	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
89	Danny Van Der Tuuk	Equipo Kern Pharma	16:45
90	Thomas Champion	Cofidis	17:34
91	Pierre-Luc Périchon	Cofidis	17:50
92	Rudy Barbier	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	17:55
93	Pierre Barbier	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
94	Milan Fretin	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
95	Jelle Wallays	Cofidis	18:07
96	Alex Jaime	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
97	Fabian Lienhard	Groupama-FDJ	18:27
98	Alan Riou	Arkéa-Samsic	19:14
99	Daniel Mclay	Arkéa-Samsic	19:46
100	Julian Lino	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	19:53
101	Emmanuel Morin	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	21:35
102	Léo Danès	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
103	Samuel Leroux	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	s.t.
104	Rait Ärm	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	s.t.
105	Alexander Kamp	Tudor Pro Cycling	21:53
106	Larry Valvasori	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	22:10
107	Floris De Tier	Bingoal WB	22:38
108	Anthony Maldonado	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
109	Jonathan Couanon	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
110	Oded Kogut	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
111	Flavien Maurelet	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
112	Valentin Paret-Peintre	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
113	Jérémy Leveau	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	s.t.
114	Aaron Van Poucke	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
115	Simon Carr	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
116	Enzo Paleni	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
117	Vito Braet	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
118	Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	23:00
119	Robbe Ghys	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.

 

GC after stage 4:

479.3 kilometers raced so far at an average speed of 43.794 km/hr

1	Mattias Skjelmose	Trek-Segafredo	10hr 56min 40sec
2	Neilson Powless	EF Education-EasyPost	@ 4sec
3	Pierre Latour	TotalEnergies	0:22
4	Pavel Sivakov	INEOS Grenadiers	1:00
5	Arnaud De Lie	Lotto Dstny	1:19
6	Kévin Vauquelin	Arkéa-Samsic	1:26
7	Thibaut Pinot	Groupama-FDJ	1:37
8	Hugo Houle	Israel-Premier Tech	1:50
9	Krists Neilands	Israel-Premier Tech	2:13
10	Anthony Perez	Cofidis	s.t.
11	Pau Miquel Delgado	Equipo Kern Pharma	2:18
12	Julien Bernard	Trek-Segafredo	2:21
13	Benjamin Thomas	Cofidis	2:25
14	Franck Bonnamour	Ag2r-Citroën	2:33
15	Dylan Teuns	Israel-Premier Tech	2:40
16	Joel Suter	Tudor Pro Cycling	2:50
17	Mathieu Burgaudeau	TotalEnergies	3:07
18	Axel Laurance	Alpecin-Deceuninck	3:12
19	Greg Van Avermaet	Ag2r-Citroën	3:24
20	Raúl García	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
21	Valentin Ferron	TotalEnergies	4:06
22	Fredrik Dversnes	Uno-X	4:24
23	Lucas Eriksson	Tudor Pro Cycling	4:31
24	Jenno Berckmoes	Team Flanders-Baloise	4:47
25	Thomas Bonnet	TotalEnergies	5:41
26	Brent Van Moer	Lotto Dstny	5:54
27	Théo Delacroix	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	6:29
28	Alexandre Delettre	Cofidis	6:36
29	Oliver Naesen	Ag2r-Citroën	6:40
30	Simon Pellaud	Tudor Pro Cycling	6:54
31	Louis Barré	Arkéa-Samsic	7:17
32	Julien Simon	TotalEnergies	8:35
33	Petr Kelemen	Tudor Pro Cycling	8:54
34	Martin Urianstad Bugge	Uno-X	9:11
35	Sep Vanmarcke	Israel-Premier Tech	9:13
36	Anthony Turgis	TotalEnergies	9:39
37	Jordan Jegat	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	10:27
38	Benoît Cosnefroy	Ag2r-Citroën	10:36
39	Luca Van Boven	Bingoal WB	10:40
40	Thibault Guernalec	Arkéa-Samsic	11:04
41	Remy Mertz	Bingoal WB	11:23
42	Ben Turner	INEOS Grenadiers	11:48
43	Jasper De Buyst	Lotto Dstny	12:42
44	Maël Guégan	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	12:53
45	Dries Van Gestel	TotalEnergies	s.t.
46	Fabio Van Den Bossche	Alpecin-Deceuninck	13:11
47	Erik Resell	Uno-X	13:58
48	Rasmus Tiller	Uno-X	14:00
49	Luca Mozzato	Arkéa-Samsic	14:12
50	Michal Kwiatkowski	INEOS Grenadiers	14:48
51	Lawrence Warbasse	Ag2r-Citroën	15:00
52	Markus Hoelgaard	Trek-Segafredo	15:16
53	Sam Watson	Groupama-FDJ	15:51
54	Bruno Armirail	Groupama-FDJ	15:53
55	Ben Tulett	INEOS Grenadiers	15:55
56	Gilles De Wilde	Team Flanders-Baloise	16:28
57	Andrea Piccolo	EF Education-EasyPost	16:32
58	Guillaume Boivin	Israel-Premier Tech	16:45
59	Luke Rowe	INEOS Grenadiers	16:58
60	Joshua Tarling	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
61	Nadav Raisberg	Israel-Premier Tech	17:27
62	Magnus Cort	EF Education-EasyPost	17:40
63	Andrea Mifsud	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	18:28
64	Romain Cardis	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	18:49
65	Valentin Retailleau	Ag2r-Citroën	18:55
66	Hugo Toumire	Cofidis	19:02
67	Nicolas Debeaumarché	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	19:13
68	Johannes Adamietz	Lotto Dstny	19:18
69	Kristoffer Halvorsen	Uno-X	20:13
70	Toms Skujins	Trek-Segafredo	20:53
71	Elias Maris	Team Flanders-Baloise	21:20
72	Edward Planckaert	Alpecin-Deceuninck	21:20
73	Danny Van Der Tuuk	Equipo Kern Pharma	21:23
74	Tom Bohli	Tudor Pro Cycling	21:29
75	Dries De Bondt	Alpecin-Deceuninck	21:33
76	Johan Meens	Bingoal WB	22:19
77	Pierre-Luc Périchon	Cofidis	22:20
78	Norman Vahtra	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	22:24
79	Stefan Bissegger	EF Education-EasyPost	22:29
80	Mads Pedersen	Trek-Segafredo	22:33
81	Lionel Taminiaux	Alpecin-Deceuninck	22:37
82	Liam Slock	Lotto Dstny	22:39
83	Floris De Tier	Bingoal WB	24:13
84	Jacopo Mosca	Trek-Segafredo	24:44
85	Anthony Maldonado	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	24:59
86	Jean-Louis Le Ny	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	25:05
87	Samuel Leroux	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	25:47
88	Jonathan Couanon	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	26:35
89	Laurent Pichon	Arkéa-Samsic	26:56
90	Léo Danès	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	27:25
91	Michael Leonard	INEOS Grenadiers	27:34
92	Ayco Bastiaens	Alpecin-Deceuninck	27:35
93	Flavien Maurelet	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	29:29
94	Jelle Wallays	Cofidis	29:59
95	Alex Jaime	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
96	Pierre Barbier	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	30:26
97	Rudy Barbier	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
98	Aaron Van Poucke	Team Flanders-Baloise	30:36
99	Alan Riou	Arkéa-Samsic	31:14
100	Fabian Lienhard	Groupama-FDJ	31:28
101	Julian Lino	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	31:45
102	Valentin Paret-Peintre	Ag2r-Citroën	32:13
103	Milan Fretin	Team Flanders-Baloise	32:28
104	Rait Ärm	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	32:40
105	Alexander Kamp	Tudor Pro Cycling	32:53
106	Emmanuel Morin	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	33:01
107	Larry Valvasori	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	34:02
108	Ludovic Robeet	Bingoal WB	s.t.
109	Jérémy Leveau	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	34:30
110	Mark Padun	EF Education-EasyPost	34:40
111	Daniel Mclay	Arkéa-Samsic	35:00
112	Thomas Champion	Cofidis	36:37
113	Vito Braet	Team Flanders-Baloise	37:11
114	William Blume Levy	Uno-X	37:54
115	Robbe Ghys	Alpecin-Deceuninck	39:40
116	Enzo Paleni	Groupama-FDJ	41:41
117	Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	42:03
118	Oded Kogut	Israel-Premier Tech	45:20
119	Simon Carr	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.

 

---

Friday, February 3: Stage 3, Bessèges - Bessèges, 169.7 km

Arnaud De Lie takes another stage. Photo: Getty Sport Images

David L. Stanley's masterful telling of his bout with skin cancer Melanoma: It Started with a Freckle is available in print, Kindle eBook and audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Weather at the start/finish city of Bessèges at 1:30 PM, local time: 16C (60F), sunny, with the wind from the north at 23 km/hr (14 mph). No rain is forecast.

The race: Here's the report from stage winner and GC leader Arnaud De Lie's Team Lotto Dstny.

Arnaud De Lie has also won the third stage of the Etoile de Bessèges. The Lotto Dstny rider again impressed on the way to Bessèges and showed to be the fastest of a heavily reduced bunch at the end. For De Lie, it’s a second consecutive victory at the Etoile de Bessèges, after yesterday’s stage was neutralised. The 20-year-old Belgian also extended his lead in the general classification, on the eve of the queen stage towards Mont Bouquet.

The third stage exploded on a local circuit including two climbs. A strong-looking Arnaud De Lie could once again count on the support of this teammates and could just hold on to the leading group during the final ascent. After the final time up Col des Brousses, the lead group split to pieces on a technical descent. De Lie got caught by a chasing group, which still closed the gap towards the front of the race. In the penultimate kilometre, it was De Lie himself who tried to escape the bunch but eventually the 20-year-old would finish it off in a reduced bunch sprint, where he clinched his second Etoile de Bessèges stage win in impressive manner.

Arnaud De Lie: “Maybe this victory looked easy but I can tell you that this was not the case. We expected the race to open really early but in the end, it was only on the local circuit that things exploded. I wasn’t immediately up there on the penultimate ascent, but luckily my teammates brought me back in contention. On the final climb, I did everything to try to follow, but honestly I was a bit cooked and started the descent in last position, where it eventually split.”

In the chase, De Lie hoped that it would all come back together for a sprint, which it eventually did in the last kilometres.

“I was lucky that the cooperation wasn’t great in the front group. Eventually it all came together in the last kilometres and I still answered an attack by a Uno-X rider because attack is the best defence, right? We got caught however but I could still recover. I had to do a long sprint but that’s just how I like it. It feels fantastic to again reward great teamwork because without Sébastien Grignard and Cedric Beullens at the start, it wasn’t easy today.”

“Tomorrow’s summit finish? Of course you should defend a leader’s jersey to the best of your abilities, but it really is a tough climb. I don’t expect to make it but we will give our all, that’s for sure”, concludes a motivated Arnaud De Lie.

Sébastien Grignard and Cedric Beullens did not start stage three. Both riders were involved in the big crash yesterday. Grignard incurred multiple abrasions and bruises but further examinations revealed no fractures. For Beullens, it was his third crash in a short time and needs to heal a wound he incurred at his knee.

Complete results:

169.7 kilometers raced at an average speed of 41.767 km/hr

1	Arnaud De Lie	Lotto Dstny	4hr 3min 47sec
2	Valentin Ferron	TotalEnergies	s.t.
3	Sam Watson	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
4	Louis Barré	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
5	Sep Vanmarcke	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
6	Joel Suter	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
7	Remy Mertz	Bingoal WB	s.t.
8	Pierre Latour	TotalEnergies	s.t.
9	Greg Van Avermaet	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
10	Franck Bonnamour	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
11	Kévin Vauquelin	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
12	Mattias Skjelmose Jensen	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
13	Alexandre Delettre	Cofidis	s.t.
14	Jordan Jegat	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
15	Neilson Powless	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
16	Benoît Cosnefroy	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
17	Thibault Guernalec	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
18	Pavel Sivakov	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
19	Ben Tulett	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
20	Mathieu Burgaudeau	TotalEnergies	s.t.
21	Hugo Houle	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
22	Thibaut Pinot	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
23	Bruno Armirail	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
24	Krists Neilands	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
25	Julien Bernard	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
26	Anthony Perez	Cofidis	s.t.
27	Anthony Turgis	TotalEnergies	s.t.
28	Lucas Eriksson	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
29	Oliver Naesen	Ag2r-Citroën	@ 1min 6sec
30	Jenno Berckmoes	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
31	Floris De Tier	Bingoal WB	s.t.
32	Anthony Maldonado	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
33	Axel Laurance	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
34	Jasper De Buyst	Lotto Dstny	s.t.
35	Markus Hoelgaard	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
36	Raúl García	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
37	Fredrik Dversnes	Uno-X Pro Cycling	s.t.
38	Valentin Paret-Peintre	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
39	Luca Mozzato	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
40	Ben Turner	INEOS Grenadiers	1:12
41	Pau Miquel Delgado	Equipo Kern Pharma	@ 0sec
42	Benjamin Thomas	Cofidis	@ 0sec
43	Dylan Teuns	Israel-Premier Tech	@ 0sec
44	Francisco Galván	Equipo Kern Pharma	2:14
45	Emmanuel Morin	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	2:57
46	Théo Delacroix	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
47	Luca Van Boven	Bingoal WB	s.t.
48	Julian Lino	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	3:23
49	Nicolas Debeaumarché	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
50	Romain Cardis	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
51	Thomas Bonnet	TotalEnergies	s.t.
52	Julian Mertens	Bingoal WB	s.t.
53	Nolann Mahoudo	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
54	Maël Guégan	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
55	Petr Kelemen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
56	Samuel Leroux	GO Sport-Roubaix-Lille Métropole	s.t.
57	Jonathan Couanon	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
58	Brent Van Moer	Lotto Dstny	s.t.
59	Julien Simon	TotalEnergies	s.t.
60	Elias Maris	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
61	Jérémy Leveau	GO Sport-Roubaix-Lille Métropole	s.t.
62	Larry Valvasori	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
63	Simon Pellaud	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
64	Dries Van Gestel	TotalEnergies	s.t.
65	Fabio Van Den Bossche	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
66	Danny Van Der Tuuk	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
67	Jake Stewart	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
68	Luke Rowe	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
69	Lawrence Warbasse	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
70	Michal Kwiatkowski	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
71	Joshua Tarling	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
72	Valentin Retailleau	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
73	Michael Leonard	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
74	Hugo Toumire	Cofidis	s.t.
75	Andrea Piccolo	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
76	Pierre-Luc Périchon	Cofidis	s.t.
77	Jelle Wallays	Cofidis	s.t.
78	Magnus Cort	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
79	Edward Planckaert	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
80	Guillaume Boivin	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
81	Anders Halland Johannessen	Uno-X Pro Cycling	@ 0sec
82	Rasmus Tiller	Uno-X Pro Cycling	3:35
83	Martin Urianstad Bugge	Uno-X Pro Cycling	s.t.
84	Alex Jaime	Equipo Kern Pharma	3:23
85	Léo Danès	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	5:05
86	Flavien Maurelet	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	6:31
87	Johan Meens	Bingoal WB	7:08
88	Jean-Louis Le Ny	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
89	Andrea Mifsud	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	7:48
90	Nadav Raisberg	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
91	Johannes Adamietz	Lotto Dstny	s.t.
92	Eugenio Sanchez	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
93	Aaron Van Poucke	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
94	Toms Skujins	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
95	Erik Resell	Uno-X Pro Cycling	10:34
96	Kristoffer Halvorsen	Uno-X Pro Cycling	s.t.
97	Thomas Champion	Cofidis	s.t.
98	Dries De Bondt	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
99	Norman Vahtra	GO Sport-Roubaix-Lille Métropole	s.t.
100	Rait Ärm	GO Sport-Roubaix-Lille Métropole	s.t.
101	Enzo Paleni	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
102	Stefan Bissegger	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
103	Fabian Lienhard	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
104	Mads Pedersen	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
105	Jacopo Mosca	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
106	Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
107	Alan Riou	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
108	Tom Bohli	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
109	Gilles De Wilde	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
110	Alexander Kamp	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
111	Liam Slock	Lotto Dstny	s.t.
112	Ayco Bastiaens	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
113	Kenny Molly	GO Sport-Roubaix-Lille Métropole	s.t.
114	Lionel Taminiaux	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
115	Ludovic Robeet	Bingoal WB	s.t.
116	Laurent Pichon	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
117	Daniel Mclay	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
118	Rudy Barbier	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	11:24
119	Pierre Barbier	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
120	Damien Girard	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	11:33
121	Mark Padun	EF Education-EasyPost	14:13
122	Oded Kogut	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
123	William Blume Levy	Uno-X Pro Cycling	s.t.
124	Simon Carr	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
125	Paul Hennequin	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
126	Vito Braet	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
127	Milan Fretin	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
128	Robbe Ghys	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.

 

GC after stage 3:

331.8 kilometers raced so far at an average speed of 43.847 km/hr.

1	Arnaud De Lie	Lotto Dstny	7hr 34min 2sec
2	Benoît Cosnefroy	Ag2r-Citroën	@ 16sec
3	Dylan Teuns	Israel-Premier Tech	0:23
4	Sam Watson	Groupama-FDJ	0:24
5	Mattias Skjelmose Jensen	Trek-Segafredo	0:25
6	Neilson Powless	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
7	Pierre Latour	TotalEnergies	0:28
8	Ben Tulett	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
9	Krists Neilands	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
10	Pau Miquel Delgado	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
11	Anders Halland Johannessen	Uno-X Pro Cycling	s.t.
12	Louis Barré	Arkéa-Samsic	0:35
13	Greg Van Avermaet	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
14	Mathieu Burgaudeau	TotalEnergies	s.t.
15	Kévin Vauquelin	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
16	Anthony Perez	Cofidis	s.t.
17	Hugo Houle	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
18	Thibaut Pinot	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
19	Benjamin Thomas	Cofidis	s.t.
20	Valentin Ferron	TotalEnergies	0:40
21	Thibault Guernalec	Arkéa-Samsic	0:44
22	Franck Bonnamour	Ag2r-Citroën	0:50
23	Joel Suter	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	0:56
24	Sep Vanmarcke	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
25	Pavel Sivakov	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
26	Julien Bernard	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
27	Bruno Armirail	Groupama-FDJ	1:17
28	Alexandre Delettre	Cofidis	1:22
29	Anthony Turgis	TotalEnergies	s.t.
30	Lucas Eriksson	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
31	Jenno Berckmoes	Team Flanders-Baloise	1:34
32	Axel Laurance	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
33	Raúl García	Equipo Kern Pharma	1:41
34	Floris De Tier	Bingoal WB	1:50
35	Fredrik Dversnes	Uno-X Pro Cycling	1:56
36	Oliver Naesen	Ag2r-Citroën	1:59
37	Jasper De Buyst	Lotto Dstny	2:13
38	Luca Mozzato	Arkéa-Samsic	2:23
39	Anthony Maldonado	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	2:36
40	Ben Turner	INEOS Grenadiers	2:49
41	Francisco Galván	Equipo Kern Pharma	3:00
42	Markus Hoelgaard	Trek-Segafredo	3:31
43	Théo Delacroix	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	3:32
44	Luca Van Boven	Bingoal WB	3:43
45	Andrea Piccolo	EF Education-EasyPost	3:46
46	Thomas Bonnet	TotalEnergies	3:51
47	Michal Kwiatkowski	INEOS Grenadiers	3:55
48	Fabio Van Den Bossche	Alpecin-Deceuninck	3:58
49	Brent Van Moer	Lotto Dstny	4:04
50	Jonathan Couanon	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	4:12
51	Petr Kelemen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	4:13
52	Simon Pellaud	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	4:19
53	Valentin Retailleau	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
54	Samuel Leroux	GO Sport-Roubaix-Lille Métropole	4:27
55	Dries Van Gestel	TotalEnergies	4:36
56	Lawrence Warbasse	Ag2r-Citroën	4:40
57	Maël Guégan	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	4:45
58	Nolann Mahoudo	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
59	Pierre-Luc Périchon	Cofidis	4:45
60	Danny Van Der Tuuk	Equipo Kern Pharma	4:53
61	Jake Stewart	Groupama-FDJ	4:58
62	Martin Urianstad Bugge	Uno-X Pro Cycling	5:05
63	Julien Simon	TotalEnergies	5:09
64	Guillaume Boivin	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
65	Rasmus Tiller	Uno-X Pro Cycling	5:43
66	Magnus Cort	EF Education-EasyPost	5:57
67	Léo Danès	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	6:05
68	Luke Rowe	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
69	Joshua Tarling	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
70	Julian Mertens	Bingoal WB	6:41
71	Flavien Maurelet	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	7:06
72	Johan Meens	Bingoal WB	7:43
73	Aaron Van Poucke	Team Flanders-Baloise	8:13
74	Remy Mertz	Bingoal WB	8:44
75	Jordan Jegat	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	8:44
76	Nadav Raisberg	Israel-Premier Tech	9:10
77	Toms Skujins	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
78	Valentin Paret-Peintre	Ag2r-Citroën	9:50
79	Mads Pedersen	Trek-Segafredo	10:48
80	Tom Bohli	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	11:09
81	Alexander Kamp	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	11:15
82	Rait Ärm	GO Sport-Roubaix-Lille Métropole	11:20
83	Emmanuel Morin	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	11:41
84	Gilles De Wilde	Team Flanders-Baloise	11:47
85	Kristoffer Halvorsen	Uno-X Pro Cycling	11:56
86	Erik Resell	Uno-X Pro Cycling	12:01
87	Norman Vahtra	GO Sport-Roubaix-Lille Métropole	12:04
88	Julian Lino	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	12:07
89	Jérémy Leveau	GO Sport-Roubaix-Lille Métropole	s.t.
90	Nicolas Debeaumarché	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
91	Elias Maris	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
92	Romain Cardis	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
93	Larry Valvasori	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
94	Jelle Wallays	Cofidis	s.t.
95	Hugo Toumire	Cofidis	s.t.
96	Michael Leonard	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
97	Alex Jaime	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
98	Edward Planckaert	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
99	Stefan Bissegger	EF Education-EasyPost	12:09
100	Alan Riou	Arkéa-Samsic	12:15
101	Dries De Bondt	Alpecin-Deceuninck	12:20
102	Laurent Pichon	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
103	Pierre Barbier	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	12:46
104	Rudy Barbier	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	12:46
105	Damien Girard	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	12:50
106	Jacopo Mosca	Trek-Segafredo	12:59
107	Ayco Bastiaens	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
108	Fabian Lienhard	Groupama-FDJ	13:16
109	Lionel Taminiaux	Alpecin-Deceuninck	13:24
110	Liam Slock	Lotto Dstny	13:26
111	Vito Braet	Team Flanders-Baloise	14:48
112	Milan Fretin	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
113	Daniel Mclay	Arkéa-Samsic	15:29
114	Jean-Louis Le Ny	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	15:52
115	Johannes Adamietz	Lotto Dstny	16:32
116	Eugenio Sanchez	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
117	Andrea Mifsud	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
118	Robbe Ghys	Alpecin-Deceuninck	16:55
119	Thomas Champion	Cofidis	19:18
120	Enzo Paleni	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
121	Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
122	Ludovic Robeet	Bingoal WB	s.t.
123	Kenny Molly	GO Sport-Roubaix-Lille Métropole	s.t.
124	William Blume Levy	Uno-X Pro Cycling	22:57
125	Simon Carr	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
126	Mark Padun	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
127	Oded Kogut	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
128	Paul Hennequin	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.

 

---

Thursday, February 2: Stage 2, Bagard - Aubais, 164.21 km

Stage 2 photos

Here's a Eurosport TV screenshot of the bridge crash with one rider hanging over the edge of the bridge.

Weather at the finish city of Aubais at 1:25 PM, local time: 14C (57f), sunny, with the wind from the north at 34 km/hr (21 mph). No rain is forecast.

The race: After a giant crash with just 22 kilometers to go, the stage was neutralized. There is no winner to stage two and the GC remains unchanged.

Complete results: None.

GC after stage 2:

162.1 kilometers raced at an average speed of 46.186 km/hr

1	Arnaud De Lie	Lotto Dstny	3hr 30min 25sec
2	Mads Pedersen	Trek-Segafredo	@ 4sec
3	Benoît Cosnefroy	Ag2r-Citroën	0:06
4	Dylan Teuns	Israel-Premier Tech	0:13
5	Andrea Piccolo	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
6	Mattias Skjelmose Jensen	Trek-Segafredo	0:15
7	Neilson Powless	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
8	Aaron Van Poucke	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
9	Pau Miquel Delgado	Equipo Kern Pharma	0:18
10	Anders Halland Johannessen	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
11	Sam Watson	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
12	Ben Tulett	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
13	Thomas Bonnet	TotalEnergies	s.t.
14	Pierre Latour	TotalEnergies	s.t.
15	Jenno Berckmoes	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
16	Axel Laurance	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
17	Krists Neilands	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
18	Michal Kwiatkowski	INEOS Grenadiers	0:22
19	Johan Meens	Bingoal-WB	0:25
20	Vito Braet	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
21	Benjamin Thomas	Cofidis	s.t.
22	Anthony Perez	Cofidis	s.t.
23	Ben Healy	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
24	Fabio Van Den Bossche	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
25	Mathieu Burgaudeau	TotalEnergies	s.t.
26	Théo Delacroix	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
27	Jacob Eriksson	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
28	Hugo Houle	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
29	Tom Bohli	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
30	Thibaut Pinot	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
31	Milan Fretin	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
32	Flavien Maurelet	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
33	Raúl García	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
34	Greg Van Avermaet	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
35	Thomas Boudat	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	s.t.
36	Louis Barré	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
37	Kévin Vauquelin	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
38	Alexander Kamp	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	0:31
39	Brent Van Moer	Lotto Dstny	s.t.
40	Thibault Guernalec	Arkéa-Samsic	0:34
41	Floris De Tier	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
42	Rait Ärm	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	0:36
43	Luca Van Boven	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
44	Francisco Galván	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
45	Valentin Ferron	TotalEnergies	s.t.
46	Jonathan Couanon	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	0:39
47	Lars Van Den Berg	Groupama-FDJ	0:40
48	Petr Kelemen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
49	Franck Bonnamour	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
50	Fredrik Dversnes	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
51	Oliver Naesen	Ag2r-Citroën	0:43
52	Pavel Sivakov	INEOS Grenadiers	0:46
53	Joel Suter	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
54	Valentin Retailleau	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
55	Julien Bernard	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
56	Simon Pellaud	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
57	Sep Vanmarcke	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
58	Nathan Vandepitte	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
59	Léo Danès	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	0:50
60	Samuel Leroux	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	0:54
61	Jasper De Buyst	Lotto Dstny	0:57
62	Dries Van Gestel	TotalEnergies	1:03
63	Gilles De Wilde	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
64	Luca Mozzato	Arkéa-Samsic	1:07
65	Lawrence Warbasse	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
66	Bruno Armirail	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
67	Damien Girard	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
68	Maël Guégan	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	1:12
69	Morne Van Niekerk	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
70	Toms Skujins	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
71	Nadav Raisberg	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
72	Nolann Mahoudo	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
73	Pierre Barbier	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
74	Kristoffer Halvorsen	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
75	Anthony Turgis	TotalEnergies	s.t.
76	Rudy Barbier	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
77	Lucas Eriksson	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
78	Pierre-Luc Périchon	Cofidis	s.t.
79	Alexandre Delettre	Cofidis	s.t.
80	Erik Resell	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team	1:17
81	Martin Urianstad Bugge	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team	1:20
82	Danny Van Der Tuuk	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
83	Anthony Maldonado	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
84	Norman Vahtra	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	s.t.
85	Stefan Bissegger	EF Education-EasyPost	1:25
86	Jake Stewart	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
87	Ben Turner	INEOS Grenadiers	1:27
88	Alan Riou	Arkéa-Samsic	1:31
89	Martí Márquez	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
90	Julien Simon	TotalEnergies	1:36
91	Laurent Pichon	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
92	Dries De Bondt	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
93	Guillaume Boivin	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
94	Sébastien Grignard	Lotto Dstny	1:41
95	Rasmus Tiller	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team	1:58
96	Ayco Bastiaens	Alpecin-Deceuninck	2:15
97	Markus Hoelgaard	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
98	Jacopo Mosca	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
99	Magnus Cort	EF Education-EasyPost	2:24
100	Robbe Ghys	Alpecin-Deceuninck	2:32
101	Luke Rowe	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
102	Fabian Lienhard	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
103	Joshua Tarling	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
104	Lionel Taminiaux	Alpecin-Deceuninck	2:40
105	Liam Slock	Lotto Dstny	2:42
106	Julian Mertens	Bingoal-WB	3:08
107	Daniel Mclay	Arkéa-Samsic	4:45
108	Cédric Beullens	Lotto Dstny	8:34
109	Emmanuel Morin	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
110	Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
111	Jelle Wallays	Cofidis	s.t.
112	William Blume Levy	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
113	Eugenio Sanchez	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
114	Johannes Adamietz	Lotto Dstny	s.t.
115	Enzo Paleni	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
116	Valentin Tabellion	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	s.t.
117	Julian Lino	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
118	Jérémy Leveau	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	s.t.
119	Thomas Champion	Cofidis	s.t.
120	Hugo Toumire	Cofidis	s.t.
121	Elias Maris	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
122	Alex Jaime	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
123	Larry Valvasori	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
124	Simon Carr	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
125	Michael Leonard	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
126	Jordan Jegat	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
127	Paul Hennequin	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
128	Oded Kogut	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
129	Mark Padun	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
130	Ludovic Robeet	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
131	Remy Mertz	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
132	Nicolas Debeaumarché	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
133	Romain Cardis	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
134	Andrea Mifsud	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
135	Valentin Paret-Peintre	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
136	Edward Planckaert	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
137	Kenny Molly	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	s.t.
138	Jean-Louis Le Ny	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.

 

Stage two photos by Fotoreporter Sirotti:

The peloton finishes the now neutralized stage.

Benoit Cosnefroy after the stage.

Tudor riders after the stage.

Groupama-FDJ rider Enzo Paleni obviously fell.

Arnaud De Lie remains the GC leader.

---

Wednesday, February 1: Stage 1, Bellegarde - Bellegarde, 162.1 km

Arnaud De Lie takes the first stage. Sirotti photo

Bill & Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, Vol 1: 1903 - 1975 is available in print, Kindle eBook & audiobook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Weather at the start/finish city of Bellegarde at 1:40 PM, local tme: 13C (55F), sunny, with the wind from the northwest at 39 km/hr (24 mph). No rain is forecast.

The race: Here's the report from winner Arnaud De Lie's Team Lotto Dstny.

Lotto Dstny rider Arnaud De Lie won the opening stage of the Etoile de Bessèges in impressive fashion. The 20-year-old Belgian impressed on a finish suited for punchers. On the steep slopes towards the finish, De Lie answered an acceleration of Mads Pedersen, passed the Danish former world champion just before entering the final straight and secured his second victory of the season. De Lie is also the first leader in the five-day stage race in the south of France.

The opening stage was immediately marked by echelons as the bunch split into several pieces at around 60 kilometres from the finish. Lotto Dstny stayed attentive and was present in the front group with four riders: Liam Slock, Sébastien Grignard, Brent Van Moer and Arnaud De Lie. At ten kilometres from the finish, a sizeable group returned as the bunch rushed towards Bellegarde, where a punchy finish awaited. After a fine lead-out by Lotto Dstny and an ultimate pull by Jasper De Buyst, it was Pedersen who attacked. De Lie took the wheel of the Danish former world champion, accelerated going into the final corner and sprinted to victory in impressive fashion. Mads Pedersen finished second, Benoit Cosnefroy third.

Arnaud De Lie: “It is fantastic to start the season with such a shape and already two wins. But this wouldn’t be possible without a strong Lotto Dstny team behind me. I am really thankful to my teammates because they really raced by the book today. When the bunch split to pieces far from the finish, we were in the lead group with four guys. In the end, also Jasper De Buyst joined and we took the initiative in the peloton during the final kilometres. My teammates really delivered the perfect lead-out.”

“We did a recon of this finish past Monday and I already noticed that it flattened out a bit at 500 metres from the finish. Right there, Mads Pedersen launched his attack. I held onto his wheel and felt strong enough to pass him and sprint towards the finish. It felt great to win that way. This Etoile de Bessèges is already a success with this stage win, but there are some nice opportunities in the next two days. And with this team spirit, a lot more is possible”, concludes Arnaud De Lie.

Complete results:

162.1 kilometers raced at an average speed of 46.186 km/hr

1	Arnaud De Lie	Lotto Dstny	3hr 30min 35sec
2	Mads Pedersen	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
3	Benoît Cosnefroy	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
4	Dylan Teuns	Israel-Premier Tech	@ 3sec
5	Andrea Piccolo	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
6	Mattias Skjelmose Jensen	Trek-Segafredo	0:05
7	Neilson Powless	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
8	Aaron Van Poucke	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
9	Pau Miquel Delgado	Equipo Kern Pharma	0:08
10	Anders Halland Johannessen	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
11	Sam Watson	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
12	Ben Tulett	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
13	Thomas Bonnet	TotalEnergies	s.t.
14	Pierre Latour	TotalEnergies	s.t.
15	Jenno Berckmoes	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
16	Axel Laurance	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
17	Krists Neilands	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
18	Michal Kwiatkowski	INEOS Grenadiers	0:12
19	Johan Meens	Bingoal-WB	0:15
20	Vito Braet	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
21	Benjamin Thomas	Cofidis	s.t.
22	Anthony Perez	Cofidis	s.t.
23	Ben Healy	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
24	Fabio Van Den Bossche	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
25	Mathieu Burgaudeau	TotalEnergies	s.t.
26	Théo Delacroix	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
27	Jacob Eriksson	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
28	Hugo Houle	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
29	Tom Bohli	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
30	Thibaut Pinot	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
31	Milan Fretin	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
32	Flavien Maurelet	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
33	Raúl García	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
34	Greg Van Avermaet	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
35	Thomas Boudat	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	s.t.
36	Louis Barré	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
37	Kévin Vauquelin	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
38	Alexander Kamp	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	0:21
39	Brent Van Moer	Lotto Dstny	s.t.
40	Thibault Guernalec	Arkéa-Samsic	24
41	Floris De Tier	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
42	Rait Ärm	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	0:26
43	Luca Van Boven	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
44	Francisco Galván	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
45	Valentin Ferron	TotalEnergies	s.t.
46	Jonathan Couanon	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	0:29
47	Lars Van Den Berg	Groupama-FDJ	0:30
48	Petr Kelemen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
49	Franck Bonnamour	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
50	Fredrik Dversnes	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
51	Oliver Naesen	Ag2r-Citroën	0:33
52	Pavel Sivakov	INEOS Grenadiers	0:36
53	Joel Suter	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
54	Valentin Retailleau	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
55	Julien Bernard	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
56	Simon Pellaud	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
57	Sep Vanmarcke	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
58	Nathan Vandepitte	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
59	Léo Danès	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	0:40
60	Samuel Leroux	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	0:44
61	Jasper De Buyst	Lotto Dstny	47
62	Dries Van Gestel	TotalEnergies	0:53
63	Gilles De Wilde	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
64	Luca Mozzato	Arkéa-Samsic	0:57
65	Lawrence Warbasse	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
66	Bruno Armirail	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
67	Damien Girard	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
68	Maël Guégan	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	1:02
69	Morne Van Niekerk	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
70	Toms Skujins	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
71	Nadav Raisberg	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
72	Nolann Mahoudo	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
73	Pierre Barbier	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
74	Kristoffer Halvorsen	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
75	Anthony Turgis	TotalEnergies	s.t.
76	Rudy Barbier	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
77	Lucas Eriksson	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
78	Pierre-Luc Périchon	Cofidis	s.t.
79	Alexandre Delettre	Cofidis	s.t.
80	Erik Resell	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team	1:07
81	Martin Urianstad Bugge	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team	1:10
82	Danny Van Der Tuuk	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
83	Anthony Maldonado	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
84	Norman Vahtra	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	s.t.
85	Stefan Bissegger	EF Education-EasyPost	1:15
86	Jake Stewart	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
87	Ben Turner	INEOS Grenadiers	1:17
88	Alan Riou	Arkéa-Samsic	1:21
89	Martí Márquez	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
90	Julien Simon	TotalEnergies	1:26
91	Laurent Pichon	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
92	Dries De Bondt	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
93	Guillaume Boivin	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
94	Sébastien Grignard	Lotto Dstny	1:31
95	Rasmus Tiller	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team	1:48
96	Ayco Bastiaens	Alpecin-Deceuninck	2:05
97	Markus Hoelgaard	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
98	Jacopo Mosca	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
99	Magnus Cort	EF Education-EasyPost	2:14
100	Robbe Ghys	Alpecin-Deceuninck	2:22
101	Luke Rowe	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
102	Fabian Lienhard	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
103	Joshua Tarling	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
104	Lionel Taminiaux	Alpecin-Deceuninck	2:30
105	Liam Slock	Lotto Dstny	2:32
106	Julian Mertens	Bingoal-WB	2:58
107	Daniel Mclay	Arkéa-Samsic	4:35
108	Cédric Beullens	Lotto Dstny	8:24
109	Emmanuel Morin	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
110	Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
111	Jelle Wallays	Cofidis	s.t.
112	William Blume Levy	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
113	Eugenio Sanchez	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
114	Johannes Adamietz	Lotto Dstny	s.t.
115	Enzo Paleni	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
116	Valentin Tabellion	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	s.t.
117	Julian Lino	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
118	Jérémy Leveau	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	s.t.
119	Thomas Champion	Cofidis	s.t.
120	Hugo Toumire	Cofidis	s.t.
121	Elias Maris	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
122	Alex Jaime	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
123	Larry Valvasori	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
124	Simon Carr	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
125	Michael Leonard	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
126	Jordan Jegat	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
127	Paul Hennequin	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
128	Oded Kogut	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
129	Mark Padun	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
130	Ludovic Robeet	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
131	Remy Mertz	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
132	Nicolas Debeaumarché	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
133	Romain Cardis	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
134	Andrea Mifsud	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
135	Valentin Paret-Peintre	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
136	Edward Planckaert	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
137	Kenny Molly	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	s.t.
138	Jean-Louis Le Ny	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.

 

GC after stage 1:

1	Arnaud De Lie	Lotto Dstny	3hr 30min 25sec
2	Mads Pedersen	Trek-Segafredo	@ 4sec
3	Benoît Cosnefroy	Ag2r-Citroën	0:06
4	Dylan Teuns	Israel-Premier Tech	0:13
5	Andrea Piccolo	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
6	Mattias Skjelmose Jensen	Trek-Segafredo	0:15
7	Neilson Powless	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
8	Aaron Van Poucke	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
9	Pau Miquel Delgado	Equipo Kern Pharma	0:18
10	Anders Halland Johannessen	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
11	Sam Watson	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
12	Ben Tulett	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
13	Thomas Bonnet	TotalEnergies	s.t.
14	Pierre Latour	TotalEnergies	s.t.
15	Jenno Berckmoes	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
16	Axel Laurance	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
17	Krists Neilands	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
18	Michal Kwiatkowski	INEOS Grenadiers	0:22
19	Johan Meens	Bingoal-WB	0:25
20	Vito Braet	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
21	Benjamin Thomas	Cofidis	s.t.
22	Anthony Perez	Cofidis	s.t.
23	Ben Healy	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
24	Fabio Van Den Bossche	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
25	Mathieu Burgaudeau	TotalEnergies	s.t.
26	Théo Delacroix	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
27	Jacob Eriksson	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
28	Hugo Houle	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
29	Tom Bohli	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
30	Thibaut Pinot	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
31	Milan Fretin	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
32	Flavien Maurelet	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
33	Raúl García	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
34	Greg Van Avermaet	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
35	Thomas Boudat	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	s.t.
36	Louis Barré	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
37	Kévin Vauquelin	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
38	Alexander Kamp	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	0:31
39	Brent Van Moer	Lotto Dstny	s.t.
40	Thibault Guernalec	Arkéa-Samsic	0:34
41	Floris De Tier	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
42	Rait Ärm	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	0:36
43	Luca Van Boven	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
44	Francisco Galván	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
45	Valentin Ferron	TotalEnergies	s.t.
46	Jonathan Couanon	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	0:39
47	Lars Van Den Berg	Groupama-FDJ	0:40
48	Petr Kelemen	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
49	Franck Bonnamour	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
50	Fredrik Dversnes	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
51	Oliver Naesen	Ag2r-Citroën	0:43
52	Pavel Sivakov	INEOS Grenadiers	0:46
53	Joel Suter	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
54	Valentin Retailleau	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
55	Julien Bernard	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
56	Simon Pellaud	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
57	Sep Vanmarcke	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
58	Nathan Vandepitte	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
59	Léo Danès	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	0:50
60	Samuel Leroux	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	0:54
61	Jasper De Buyst	Lotto Dstny	0:57
62	Dries Van Gestel	TotalEnergies	1:03
63	Gilles De Wilde	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
64	Luca Mozzato	Arkéa-Samsic	1:07
65	Lawrence Warbasse	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
66	Bruno Armirail	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
67	Damien Girard	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
68	Maël Guégan	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	1:12
69	Morne Van Niekerk	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
70	Toms Skujins	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
71	Nadav Raisberg	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
72	Nolann Mahoudo	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
73	Pierre Barbier	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
74	Kristoffer Halvorsen	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
75	Anthony Turgis	TotalEnergies	s.t.
76	Rudy Barbier	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
77	Lucas Eriksson	Tudor Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
78	Pierre-Luc Périchon	Cofidis	s.t.
79	Alexandre Delettre	Cofidis	s.t.
80	Erik Resell	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team	1:17
81	Martin Urianstad Bugge	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team	1:20
82	Danny Van Der Tuuk	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
83	Anthony Maldonado	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
84	Norman Vahtra	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	s.t.
85	Stefan Bissegger	EF Education-EasyPost	1:25
86	Jake Stewart	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
87	Ben Turner	INEOS Grenadiers	1:27
88	Alan Riou	Arkéa-Samsic	1:31
89	Martí Márquez	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
90	Julien Simon	TotalEnergies	1:36
91	Laurent Pichon	Arkéa-Samsic	s.t.
92	Dries De Bondt	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
93	Guillaume Boivin	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
94	Sébastien Grignard	Lotto Dstny	1:41
95	Rasmus Tiller	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team	1:58
96	Ayco Bastiaens	Alpecin-Deceuninck	2:15
97	Markus Hoelgaard	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
98	Jacopo Mosca	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
99	Magnus Cort	EF Education-EasyPost	2:24
100	Robbe Ghys	Alpecin-Deceuninck	2:32
101	Luke Rowe	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
102	Fabian Lienhard	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
103	Joshua Tarling	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
104	Lionel Taminiaux	Alpecin-Deceuninck	2:40
105	Liam Slock	Lotto Dstny	2:42
106	Julian Mertens	Bingoal-WB	3:08
107	Daniel Mclay	Arkéa-Samsic	4:45
108	Cédric Beullens	Lotto Dstny	8:34
109	Emmanuel Morin	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
110	Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
111	Jelle Wallays	Cofidis	s.t.
112	William Blume Levy	Uno-X Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
113	Eugenio Sanchez	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
114	Johannes Adamietz	Lotto Dstny	s.t.
115	Enzo Paleni	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
116	Valentin Tabellion	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	s.t.
117	Julian Lino	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
118	Jérémy Leveau	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	s.t.
119	Thomas Champion	Cofidis	s.t.
120	Hugo Toumire	Cofidis	s.t.
121	Elias Maris	Team Flanders-Baloise	s.t.
122	Alex Jaime	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
123	Larry Valvasori	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
124	Simon Carr	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
125	Michael Leonard	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
126	Jordan Jegat	CIC U Nantes-Atlantique	s.t.
127	Paul Hennequin	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
128	Oded Kogut	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
129	Mark Padun	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
130	Ludovic Robeet	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
131	Remy Mertz	Bingoal-WB	s.t.
132	Nicolas Debeaumarché	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
133	Romain Cardis	St Michel-Mavic-Auber 93	s.t.
134	Andrea Mifsud	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.
135	Valentin Paret-Peintre	Ag2r-Citroën	s.t.
136	Edward Planckaert	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
137	Kenny Molly	GO Sport-Roubaix Lille Métropole	s.t.
138	Jean-Louis Le Ny	Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur	s.t.

 

Start list with back numbers, January 31, 2023:

	COFIDIS
1	Benjamin Thomas
2	Thomas Champion
3	Alexandre Delettre
4	Anthony Perez
5	Pierre-Luc Périchon
6	Hugo Toumire
7	Jelle Wallays
	INEOS GRENADIERS
11	Michal Kwiatkowski
12	Michael Leonard
13	Luke Rowe
14	Pavel Sivakov
15	Joshua Tarling
16	Ben Tulett
17	Ben Turner
	AG2R CITROËN
21	Benoît Cosnefroy
22	Franck Bonnamour
23	Greg Van Avermaet
24	Oliver Naesen
25	Valentin Paret-Peintre
26	Valentin Retailleau
27	Lawrence Warbasse
	TREK-SEGAFREDO
31	Mads Pedersen
32	Julien Bernard
33	Markus Hoelgaard
34	Jacopo Mosca
35	Mattias Skjelmose
36	Toms Skujins
37	Otto Vergaerde
	GROUPAMA-FDJ
41	Thibaut Pinot
42	Bruno Armirail
43	Enzo Paleni
44	Fabian Lienhard
45	Jake Stewart
46	Lars Van Den Berg
47	Samuel Watson
	ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK
51	Dries De Bondt
52	Robbe Ghys
53	Axel Laurance
54	Edward Planckaert
55	Lionel Taminiaux
56	Fabio Van Den Bossche
57	Ayco Bastiaens
	EF EDUCATION-EASYPOST
61	Magnus Cort Nielsen
62	Stefan Bissegger
63	Simon Carr
64	Ben Healy
65	Mark Padun
66	Andrea Piccolo
67	Neilson Powless
	ARKÉA-SAMSIC
71	Kévin Vauquelin
72	Alan Riou
73	Thibault Guernalec
74	Daniel Mclay
75	Luca Mozzato
76	Louis Barré
77	Laurent Pichon
	ISRAEL-PREMIER TECH
81	Guillaume Boivin
82	Hugo Houle
83	Krists Neilands
84	Dylan Teuns
85	Sep Vanmarcke
86	Oded Kogut
87	Nadav Raisberg
	LOTTO-DSTNY
91	Arnaud De Lie
92	Cédric Beullens
93	Jasper De Buyst
94	Johannes Adamietz
95	Sébastien Grignard
96	Liam Slock
97	Brent Van Moer
	TOTALENERGIES
101	Pierre Latour
102	Mathieu Burgaudeau
103	Anthony Turgis
104	Thomas Bonnet
105	Valentin Ferron
106	Julien Simon
107	Dries Van Gestel
	TEAM FLANDERS-BALOISE
111	Jenno Berckmoes
112	Vito Braet
113	Gilles De Wilde
114	Milan Fretin
115	Elias Maris
116	Aaron Van Poucke
117	Aaron Verwilst
	UNO-X PRO CYCLING TEAM
121	Kristoffer Halvorsen
122	Anders Halland Johannessen
123	Erik Nordsaeter Resell
124	William Blume Levy
125	Martin Bugge Urianstad
126	Rasmus Tiller
127	Fredrik Dversnes
	EQUIPO KERN PHARMA
131	Francisco Galvan
132	Marti Marquez Roman
133	Danny Van Der Tuuk
134	Raùl Garcia Pierna
135	Alex Jaime Fernandez
136	Eugenio Sanchez Lopez
137	Pau Miquel Delgado
	BINGOAL-WB
141	Floris De Tier
142	Johan Meens
143	Julian Mertens
144	Rémy Mertz
145	Ludovic Robeet
146	Luca Van Boven
147	Nathan Vandepitte
	TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM
151	Tom Bohli
152	Jacob Eriksson
153	Lucas Eriksson
154	Alexander Kamp
155	Simon Pellaud
156	Petr Kelemen
157	Joel Suter
	ST MICHEL-MAVIC-AUBER 93
161	Rudy Barbier
162	Romain Cardis
163	Nicolas Debeaumarché
164	Théo Delacroix
165	Flavien Maurelet
166	Anthony Maldonado
167	Morne Van Niekerk
	GO SPORT-ROUBAIX LILLE MÉTROPOLE
171	Rait Ärm
172	Thomas Boudat
173	Kenny Molly
174	Samuel Leroux
175	Jérémy Leveau
176	Valentin Tabellion
177	Norman Vahtra
	CIC U NANTES ATLANTIQUE
18	Pierre Barbier
18	Jordan Jegat
183	Léo Danès
184	Maël Guégan
185	Nolann Mahoudo
186	Emmanuel Morin
187	Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen
	NICE MÉTROPOLE CÔTE D’AZUR
191	Jonathan Couanon
192	Paul Hennequin
193	Damien Girard
194	Julian Lino
195	Jean-Louis Le Ny
196	Andrea Mifsud
197	Larry Valvasori