April 10, 2026
The GC is still up for grabs in the Région Pays de la Loire Tour for 2026 coming into the final day from Brûlon to Le Mans. The direct path from Brûlon to Le Mans would only take about 50 minutes if the bunch were to go directly there but instead, the day is a 180 km route full of lumpy terrain with a difficult finish circuit with three opportunities to take bonus seconds along the way. The bunch will arrive on the circuit in Le Mans for the first of five laps with 47 km to go. Before that, the course is up and down but there is nothing exceptional of note but for the first bonus sprint with 72 km to go. On each of the local laps, there is one 400 meter, 6% incline and one 800 meter ramp at 6% called the Sodding climb, with a maximum gradient of 13%. The other two bonus sprints come at 50 km to go and 11 km to go. Given the top three in GC are separated by only 4 seconds, the intermediate bonuses and time on the finish line will likely decide the final GC.
Race Summary
More seasonable conditions returned with temperatures around 18C (66F) with a bit of high cloud at the start. The attacks came straight away and a group of eight got away including Miguel Ángel Marín of EF-Education EasyPost, Walter Calzoni of Pinarello Q36.5, Manuel Peñalver of Polti-VisitMalta, Nolan Huysmans of Flanders Baloise, Ellande Larraonde of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, Alexander Konijn of Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur, Romain Cardis of St. Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93, and Kévin Avoine of Van Rysel Roubaix. With 64 km to go, their lead was just 1 minute as Decathlon CMA CGM, NSN Cycling, and Uno-X Mobility were keeping the race on a tight leash. Groupama-FDJ United got involved in the chase and had the break at just 10 seconds with 5 km to go before the bonus sprint at 50 remaining. The break was swallowed up with 52 km to go and the lead out for the bonus sprint was on. NSN Cycling and Uno-X Mobility were battling head to head but it was Bryan Coquard of Cofidis that took the sprint ahead of Corbin Strong and Jake Stewart of NSN Cycling which meant that the top three in GC remained unchanged but Strong moved to 11 seconds down with Coquard at 13 seconds.
The acceleration into the sprint caused a gap to the peloton. The front group consisted of Strong, Stewart, Coquard, race leader Alexander Kamp of Uno-X Mobility, Noa Isidor of Decathlon CMA CGM, and Lander Loockx of Unibet Rose Rockets who was fifth overall. When they crossed the finish line to start the first of five laps at 47 km to go, they had 7 seconds on the bunch but it was back together as they hit the first time up Sodding. Over the top, the bunch was reduced to around 50 riders and it was becoming clear that the last 40 km would be highly attritional.
Uno-X Mobility rallied around Kamp and led the peloton around the circuit back to the base of Sodding. The group stretched as the pace and incline went up but it was less intense than the last lap and Kamp's teammates were able to move up through the bunch to control. Laurens Huys of Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur sent a flyer with 33 km to go but he didn't get more than 5 seconds away from the peloton and was dragged back a few kilometers later as the bunch passed by the stunning Cathédrale Saint Julien-Le Mans on the banks of the Sarthe River.
Back around to Sodding with 25 km to go, Clément Venturini of Unibet Rose Rockets attacked which significantly stressed the group. Kamp looked good and was straight on the wheel as were around 30 riders. There were a few probing attacks, namely from Ewen Costiou of Groupama-FDJ United and Isidore. Neither were able to get away but the combination shed most of the help Kamp had which left him with just Tobias Svarre in a group full of riders wanting to drop him. Sam Maisonobe of Cofidis was the next attacker with third overall Antoine L'Hote of Decathlon CMA CGM but fortunately for Kamp, Svarre latched on to the group and was able to sit on.
The three leaders had 15 as they passed through the finish line for two laps and 18 km remaining. TotalEnergies set up a lead out coming into Sodding for the penultimate time and launched Alexandre Delettre. Delettre was quickly up to Maisonobe and Svarre but L'Hote had flown the nest and was away on his own over the top. Kamp was left isloated in the peloton and had no choice but to watch the GC go up the road and hope that they would stall. L'Hote took 3 bonus seconds at the sprint with 13 km to go, moving him up to second overall, just 1 second off of Kamp.
L'Hote built a lead on the road of 18 seconds with 12 km remaining to the peloton which had retained the Maisonobe/Delettre group. The gap hung around 20 seconds as L'Hote took the bell with 9 km to go until he reached Sodding for the final time at 6.5 km to go. Kamp gave it one last effort on the climb and brought along Strong, Venturini, and Quinten Hermans of Pinarello Q36.5. They were just 10 seconds behind L'Hote at the top but Kamp was only getting help from Strong and the gap ticked up to 13 seconds with 3 km to go. Kamp got the gap down to 5 seconds on a rise inside 2 km to go but he got no help from Hermans or Venturini and L'Hote was able to stay clear through the streets of Le Mans for the stage win and the GC. Strong led the chase group in for second place, 3 seconds down on L'Hote, with Venturini, Kamp, then Hermans behind.
L'Hote's audacious ride earned him the overall win by 12 seconds to Kamp and 18 seconds to Strong who jumped into third, up seven positions, after picking up 8 bonus seconds and finishing in the first chase group. It was L'Hote's first win as a professional and we will see plenty more from the young Frenchman if he continues this arc of progress.