Etoile de Bessèges heals wounds after last year's debacle: "It was really dangerous"

Last year, the Etoile de Bessèges organization could still count on the presence of no fewer than ten WorldTeams; this year, there are only four. The reason? It has everything to do with the chaos during the 2025 edition.

With Kévin Vauquelin, the Etoile de Bessèges last year got its perhaps dream stage race winner, but the Frenchman’s victory turned out to be just a footnote. The French stage race was marred last year by dangerous traffic situations. After the third stage, many teams had had enough: no fewer than eight teams withdrew from the multi-day race due to safety concerns.

The organizers are still paying the price a year later, as top teams like Soudal-Quick-Step, Lidl-Trek, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, EF Education-EasyPost, and INEOS Grenadiers — all present last year — are now sitting this one out.

Solution
“It was really dangerous,” says Jurgen Foré — the CEO of Soudal Quick-Step — to Het Nieuwsblad. “These are preparation races: of course, you race them to win, but above all, it's to get a competitive edge. Having to pull out from that is very frustrating.”

“I’m glad the race still exists, and I believe they will really make an effort. I also don’t rule out that we might return someday. But I do think organizers of smaller races should perhaps rethink their concept.”

Foré is an advocate of stages held on shorter, local circuits. “That makes it manageable. Organizing point-to-point stages requires a lot of staff: motorbikes, marshals... That’s not always realistic for a small organization.”