Etoile de Bessèges - Tour du Gard 2025 Stage 1

February 5, 2025 The stage starting and finishing in Bellegarde did not happen last year due to widespread protests in France. At 159KM, it is a circuit race around Bellegarde which is very exposed to the wind and mostly flat with the exception of the climb of the Côte de la Tour to the finish which is taken on three times. The Côte de la Tour is only 600M long but at 9%, it will require patience and will likely go to a puncheur or a classics style sprinter. Victor Vercouillie of Flanders-Baloise, Axandre Van Petegem of Wagner-Bazin WB, Célestin Guillon of Van Rysel Roubaix, and Axel Mariault of CIC-U Nantes got away from KM0 and had a maximum gap of over 6 minutes but it was down to 3 minutes 15 seconds with 80KM to go. Soudal Quickstep, Lotto, and Lidl-Trek did the bulk of the chasing and brought the gap down by 1 minute with 50KM to go. Positioning started with 48KM to go to get near the front for the penultimate time up the Côte de la Tour. It was full speed into the narrow streets of Bellegarde but the bunch was mostly all together over the top. The speed stayed high and the break were caught with 39KM to go. Ineos hit the front as a full team on the flat road leading into the open areas with 37KM to go in order to split up the race. The effort didn't materialize into anything but it did cause moments if disorganization which allowed Maël Guégan of CIC-U Nantes, Lennert Belmans of Alpecin-Deceuninck, and Baptiste Planckaert of Van Rysel Roubaix to chip off the front. They were caught with 16KM to go as teams were massing at the front, all in color order. Unibet-Tietema Rockets won the drag race off the main road and on to the slip road towards Bellegarde and the Côte de la Tour but they were down to two men in their train still with 2KM to go. It was a mad scramble to get to the hill and once on it, Lionel Taminiaux of Lotto led Arnaud De Lie into perfect position but De Lie faded as Jordi Meeus of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe started his sprint 250M out with Paul Magnier of Soudal Quickstep waiting on his wheel. Meeus took the final left turn in the lead but Magnier took the inside. Magnier started his sprint after the turn as the road straightened in front of the line. He had more in the tank than Meeus and opened a gap. He raised one hand up in victory when he crossed the line with Meeus half a bike length behind. Marijn van den Berg of EF-Education EasyPost came in next in third place. De Lie drifted to seventh after running out of steam with 100M to go. Magnier has now won on his first race of each of his first two years as a professional.