April 7, 2026
Four days of racing around the Loire Valley starts in Fontevraud-l'Abbaye with 187 km to Vertou, just Southeast of Nantes. There is not much elevation in this part of France so the four days of racing should be fertile ground for the fast men to pick up crucial UCI points in this .Pro event. The first 150 km of the stage roll along towards a finish circuit around Vertou. There are four, 9 km laps with a 1.3 km rise on each lap that averages 3.5%. That gradient shouldn't trouble the sprinters but their teams will have to keep an eye on opportunists who may want to jump clear and steal the glory.
Highlighted Riders:
Noah Hobbs, Paul Penhoët, Ewen Costiou, Pierre Gautherat, Erlend Blikra, Ethan Vernon, Bryan Coquard, Jason Tesson, Clément Venturini, Sam Bennett, Fernando Gaviria, Joppe Heremans
Race Summary
The mustard weed was in full bloom making the countryside dusty with yellow pollen. The weather couldn't have been more pleasant with clear blue skies and temperatures above 20C (68F). With 64 km remaining, the original break of the day had 1 minute 25 seconds on the peloton being led by Cofidis and Decathlon CMA CGM. The seven riders up the road were Lander Loockx of Unibet Rose Rockets, Xabier Azparren of Pinarello Q36.5, Gabriele Bessega of Polti-VisitMalta, Axel van der Tuuk of Euskatel-Euskadi, Santiago Ferraro of Bardiani CSF 7 Saber, Clément Davy of Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur, and Kévin Avoine of Van Rysel Roubaix.
With 52 km to go, NSN Cycling and Groupama-FDJ United added men to the chase which brought the gap down to 1 minute. As the entry to the circuit approached, teams moved their leaders forward to stay in position because of the technical nature of the local laps. Van der Tuuk took the bonus sprint on the first passage of the finish line just outside of 35 km to go with the peloton coming from behind at just 45 seconds. After the sprint, Davy was keen to push on and got the group rolling through and off right away. On the next time through the finish for the last of the bonus sprints, Azparren went long but it was van der Tuuk who was patient and scored maximum points once again.
Just like last lap, Davy was more interested in trying to stay away than sprint for the bonuses. With 27 km to go, he went away with Bessega but the bunch were closing in at just 25 seconds. NSN Cycling had taken primary control of the bunch at this point not everyone was happy to just ride in for a routine sprint. Cofidis sent Sam Maisonobe on the attack with 23 km to go. He was followed by Andrea Pietrobon of Polti-VisitMalta and the move forced the sprint teams to react. A gap temporarily formed with a group of 10 but it was shut down 1 km later. Cofidis weren't done however and another attack came, this time from Benjamin Thomas. Martin Marcellusi of Bardiani CSF 7 Saber and Baptiste Gillet of Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur joined up with Thomas but Gillet had Davy still up front and refused to pull which killed the momentum of the group. NSN Cycling stitched it back together and started riding a bit harder on the front to keep any other potential attacks at bay.
On the rise after the finish line with 15 km to go, Davy and Bessega were caught and it looked like everyone was gearing up for a bunch sprint. A few kilometers later, the front of the bunch got a more active as positioning for the finale was beginning. NSN Cycling were still driving on the pace as they led the bunch over the Sèvre Nantaise River and through the bell for one lap to go. Decathlon CMA CGM, Uno-X Mobility, Bardiani CSF 7 Saber, EF-Education EasyPost, and Pinarello Q36.5 came up beside NSN Cycling to make six teams across the road on the rise out of Vertou.
Benjamin Thomas attacked once more over the top of the rise with 5.5 km to go. He couldn't force any gap but he did momentarily disrupt the lead out trains. The speed was rapid as the bunch made their way slightly downhill to the river. Uno-X Mobility and Polti-VisitMalta were the only teams with riders together as they went under 1 km to go. As the peloton came into the last 400 meters, Erlend Blikra of Uno-X Mobility was sitting in second wheel with Ethan Vernon of NSN Cycling in third and the rest of the sprinters behind, fighting for their wheel. Blikra had to open up the sprint when the last lead out man pulled off at 200 meters. Vernon immediately came out of the slipstream and with 75 meters to go, Vernon was well ahead. He powered to the line to take the victory by a full bike length to Blikra in second and Noah Hobbs of EF-Education EasyPost in third.