Étoile de Bessèges 2021 (February 3-7)

[Devil's Elbow]

With not much else going on in the way of racing, this deserves its own thread this year.

Startlist

Overall map

Stage 1 (Bellegarde - Bellegarde, 144 km)

Final climb:

Stage 2 (Saint-Geniès-de-Malgoires - La Calmette, 154 km)

Stage 3 (Bessèges - Bessèges, 155 km)

Climbs:

(I don't have a profile for Côte de Tharaux or the uncategorised climb after it)

Stage 4 (Rousson - Saint-Siffret, 152 km)

Stage 5 (ITT Alès - Alès, 10.7 km)

Final climb:

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Really looking forward to this race with a field this star-studded.

* Ganna
**** Bettiol, Wellens, Kwiatkowski
*** B. Thomas, G. Thomas, Pedersen
** Hagen, Kämna, Grossschartner
* Latour, Hayter, Mollema, Van Avermaet, Laporte, Coquard

 

[RedheadDane]

Here's a more... updated startlist.

Etoile de Bessèges - Tour du Gard 2021 | Startlist (procyclingstats.com)

 

[pink_jersey]

Don't really understand why so many top climbers are riding this one and not Provence.

 

[rghysens]

Don't really understand why so many top climbers are riding this one and not Provence.

Because every other race tailormade for climbers in february is postponed or cancelled. The french races and uae tour will probably be some of the very few that will be organised this month. And even climbers need a bit of competition. The teams stacked with climbers can't send them all to provence.

 

[Wvv]

Sport Vlaanderen needs to withdraw after a staff member tested positive for Covid-19. Shame, was looking forward to Herregodts' attacking spirit and/or time trial.

C'mon Greg!

 

[hayneplane]

TT course looks nice and the stage 1 final little murito could be a fun early season hit out for the puncheurs.

 

[Escarabajo]

Don't really understand why so many top climbers are riding this one and not Provence.

Racing miles, warming up.

 

[RedheadDane]

Don't really understand why so many top climbers are riding this one and not Provence.

Especially since they could just do both.

 

[tobydawq]

Especially since they could just do both.

Well, teams probably want to get more than seven riders in competition by mid-February.

 

[SafeBet]

Well, teams probably want to get more than seven riders in competition by mid-February.

Exactly. There are not many races around.

 

[RedheadDane]

I'm not saying that teams should just send the exact same group to both races. But that if a rider - for whatever reason - needs that extra race mileage, he can do both.

Case in point:

Bauke Mollema (procyclingstats.com)

 

[Boes]

Looks like 4 bunch sprints and a TT?
Perhaps stage 4 might be 100% for the punchers?

 

[search]

today as well. A strong sprinter may still be able to handle it, but the final k features 300m at ~11% average

https://twitter.com/x/status/1356852905589043200

View: https://twitter.com/mycolsapp/status/1356852905589043200

 

[Boes]

today as well. A strong sprinter may still be able to handle it, but the final k features 300m at ~11% average

https://twitter.com/x/status/1356852905589043200

View: https://twitter.com/mycolsapp/status/1356852905589043200

true,
but the rest of the stage seems pretty flat-ish. It'll depend on the race itself I supose.

 

[manafana]

looks a puncheurs race, but you will need to tt no doubt about it. Ganna fav with books, but you'd be brave to be sure he comes in full hog outside the tt's

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Today's finish looks really narrow, so we should see more than just bonus seconds come into play. Think that might just be the tipping point for a Ganna GC win.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Today's finish seen last year.

 

[SafeBet]

If I'm not mistaken last year they did Cote de la Tour twice, once with around 10 km to go and then at the finish, which led to some riders being almost lapped (as seen in the video).

This year there are almost 40 km between the two passages over the Cote, so the final should be easier to control. Punchers are favored but strong sprinters definitely have a chance if in good shape.

 

[search]

If I'm not mistaken last year they did Cote de la Tour twice, once with around 10 km to go and then at the finish, which led to some riders being almost lapped (as seen in the video).

back then the race exploded in the wind early on. There were something around ~25 guys (including Brunel, Cosnefroy and so on) a minute ahead or so already when they first hit the climb.

 

[Keram]

Any chance this race is on Eurosport?

 

[repre]

Any chance this race is on Eurosport?

Nope. Only L'Equipe in France and Sporza in Belgium. If somebody has a link for stream w/o georestriction it would be nice.

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

Nope. Only L'Equipe in France and Sporza in Belgium. If somebody has a link for stream w/o georestriction it would be nice.

Tiz are streaming now.

 

[repre]

Tiz are streaming now.

you are my hero!

 

[hayneplane]

Good quality stream so far. AG2R riding hard on the front with 80km to go and a 3 man group of French domestic level riders 4m34s in front.