Team Flanders-Baloise went through all the emotions on the gruelling uphill finale of stage 1 of Etoile de Bessèges, with Victor Vercouillie almost surviving more than 100km in the early breakaway to take victory, but being caught in sight of the line, only for teammate Tom Crabbe to come through in the sprint.
Vercouillie was the last man standing from a group of four, but his legs betrayed him as the gradient only got tougher in the typical Bellegarde opening stage, with Slovakian champion Lukáš Kubiš (Unibet Rose Rockets) blasting past him with Crabbe in the wheel.
As they rounded the final kink in the road towards the finish line, Kubiš ran up the inside line – the poorer line – as Crabbe carried more momentum before kicking from his wheel to take the Belgian ProTeam's first win of the 2026 season.
Kubiš finished second, with Cofidis' Clément Izquierdo in third.
"It was real nice. I was at the front in the end, in the wheel of Kubiš, and I just felt really strong," said Crabbe, after his first professional win. "Then he took the inside of the last corner, I went outside full gas til the end, it's crazy.
"It was a hard finish. I went full for second palace; I hoped he [Vercouille] would stay in the front, and we caught him in the last 200m, then I just went full to the finish and managed to hold on, so it's a really nice day for both of us.
For the rest of his race, 20-year-old Crabbe didn't put too much pressure on himself, setting goals to "Just try to hold on, try to have as much fun as I can, enjoy the view and the races."
How it unfolded
With an entirely flat stage on offer in Bellegarde as the 56th Etoile de Bessèges kicked off in the Gard department, a four-man breakaway got up the road: Léandre Huck (Van Rysel Roubaix), Jaakko Hänninen (Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur), Nils Aebersold (Elite Fondations Cycling Team) and Victor Vercouillie (Flanders-Baloise).
After 110km of status quo in front and in the peloton, the quartet held a 3:20 lead into the final 40km. This only started decreasing over the second King of the Mountains climb of the day, where Vercouillie secured himself a trip to the podium and a day in the jersey over the Côte de la Méditerranée (0.7 km at 7.9%).
For the next 30km, however, the gap didn't close fully, with only Hänninen being brought back and the other three kicking on. Aebersold was the next to fold under the high pace, but the remaining two remnants rode all the way into the final 2km.
They hit the foot of the uphill climb to the line with around 15 seconds, but Huck quickly fell away as Vercouille hit out for glory. It looked possible he could make it momentarily, but then Kubiš launched his final burst, catching the breakaway rider.
His poor line through the last corner, however, allowed Vercouille's teammate Crabbe to carry more momentum into the last 50 metres to the line, and he outsprinted him to the win and first leader's jersey.
Results
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