Tour de la Provence 2026 Stage 1

February 13, 2026 Three days of racing in Provence begin with a 163KM journey from Marseille to Saint-Victoret, a small town sandwiched in between the city of Marseille and the busy airport. There are six climbs on course that all have the same character at 3-5KM long with gradients between 3.5% and 5%. The last of these climbs comes with 30KM remaining with the rest of the stage mostly downhill. Not everyone will finish with the group but, depending on how aggressive the racing is, there is a possibility that the peloton could still be 50-60 riders sprinting into Saint-Victoret. Sprinters to watch: Mathias Vacek, Dorian Godon, Luke Lamperti, Alexis Renard, Lorrenzo Manzin GC riders to watch: Tao Geoghegan Hart, Aurélien Paret-Peintre, Matthew Riccitello, Guillaume Martin, Carlos Rodríguez, Victor Langellotti, Neilson Powless, Wout Poels The riders rolled out from the Orange Vélodrome in Marseille under cool and cloudy skies. A break formed and, by the top of the Col de la Gineste, five riders were leading including Arnaud Tendon of Van Rysel Roubaix, Jonas Walton of CIC Pro Cycling Academy, Mattia Bais of Polti-VisitMalta, Baily McDonald of Novo Nordisk, and David Zanutta of XDS-Astana Development Team. The clouds turned heavy and rain fell. With 87KM to go, the peloton were masked under rain jackets and creating their own cloud of road spray as they chased the break at 2 minutes 40 seconds. Ineos and EF-Education EasyPost were sharing the pace making in the peloton and started the twisting descent off the Côte de Mazaugues in the front. The break entered Saint-Zacharie and immediately started the Côte de Pas de la Couelle. There was a report of a crash in the peloton but just about everyone seemed to be present when the bunch started climbing again. It wasn't until much later that it was confirmed that Søren Kragh Andersen of Lidl-Trek, who had been pushing the peloton hard on the descent of Côte de Mazaugues, had crashed and was forced to abandon. Bais, Walton, and Tendon proved to be the stronger riders from the break and distanced the others by the top of Pas de la Couelle. They were safe down the descent and worked well when the road flattened as they pedaled through the slop and sog of the valley. The race situation continued with Ineos and EF-Education EasyPost leading the peloton as they started the final climb with 37KM to go at 1 minute 20 seconds behind the three leaders. Near the top of the climb, the break encountered a car on the road facing the riders. They negotiated around it safely and it was cleared by the time the peloton arrived but it highlighted the difficulty of closing the roads, especially all the tiny lanes that weave up and through the hills. Once the climbs were completed, the peloton really closed down on the break. Through Simiane-Collongue at 23KM to go, the gap was at 35 seconds. Walton used his last legs and was dropped from the break with 12KM to go. In the peloton, Groupama-FDJ United and Lidl-Trek moved forward to fight for space at the front and stay safe through the technical finale. With 5KM to go, the peloton split into a few pieces through a series of roundabouts. The group reformed 1KM later but it cost some riders energy for the lead outs. Tendon and Bais held 12 seconds through 2KM to go and it was Groupama-FDJ United who kicked it into a higher gear to get the peloton moving. The catch still wasn't made through 1KM to go. The leaders got into the last 500M to go and had the opportunity to open their sprint still in the lead. It was Bais that hit out first with 250M to go but Tendon had the better sprint and was able to cross the finish line before the peloton got to him. It was the second win for Van Rysel Roubaix in the space of a week and two more wins than they had for all of 2025. Bais held on for second place as Luke Lamperti of EF-Education EasyPost won the field sprint for third, 2 seconds later.