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Étoile de Bessèges🇨🇵 Stage 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Kubis ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Lapeira, Kockelmann ⭐️⭐️⭐️Crabbe, Dujardin, Uhlig ⭐️⭐️NLarsen, Decomble, Izquierdo, Costiou ⭐️Delettre, RSPedersen, Hardouin, Grisel, Mifsud The classic Bessèges stage. It features a rolling and undulating course, split between climbing sections and more flowing terrain. This year’s edition is slightly harder than the 2025 version, mainly due to the repeated climbs. Riders will face the Brousses climb three times and the Trelis climb twice. Trelis is 3.6 km long with an average gradient of 5.6%, while Brousses measures 2.2 km at an average of 5.2%. These climbs come almost back to back, one immediately after the other. After the final ascent, the riders face a descent followed by roughly 10 to 13 kilometres of flatter terrain, including the downhill section, before the finish. Traditionally this stage is aggressively raced. The climbs are not extremely hard, but they are enough to encourage attacks. Riders who are not particularly strong in the time trial, such as Paul Lapeira, will need to make a difference here. This is the stage where they have to take risks and try to gain time if they want a realistic chance at the general classification. Even so, in recent years this stage has often ended in a relatively selective sprint, and I believe that could once again be the case. My pick for the stage win is Lukas Kubis. I’m not fully confident in this choice, but in my view Kubis only missed out on winning the opening stage because he misjudged a corner. Tom Crabbe took the corner much better and gained the decisive advantage. As the saying goes, third time’s the charm, so I’m backing Lukas Kubis for the victory here. Naturally, a lot of attention should also go to Paul Lapeira. He is not one of the strongest time trialists, so if he wants to win this race overall, he will need to ride very offensively on a stage like this. He has been slightly disappointing so far, but this could be the day where he turns things around. Matthieu Kockelmann, winner of today’s stage, is also a strong option. These climbs suit him well and are not too demanding for his characteristics. Depending on the pace set by the peloton, he could survive in a reduced group or come back from a second group and still sprint for the win, especially since I doubt riders like Dylan Groenewegen or Matteo Moschetti will be present in the final sprint. Tom Crabbe also deserves attention. He has already shown very good form and should be able to handle these climbs reasonably well. A repeat victory is certainly not out of the question. Henri Uhlig from Alpecin is another interesting outsider. He is a sprinter who often flies under the radar, has the ability to deliver solid results, and generally copes well with this kind of terrain. Then there are the more attacking and opportunistic riders. Maxime Decomble may not need to attack as much as others, but he will certainly look to take advantage of any situation where gaps open. Ewan Costiou is another rider who could animate the race, as is Nicolas Larsen, whether by responding to attacks or even launching one himself, although he is, in my opinion, the strongest time trialist among these riders and may choose to race more conservatively. Finally, Clément Izquierdo is in good form and is a very aggressive rider, while Louis Hardouin, who rode strongly at the Grand Prix la Marseillaise, and the ever-combative Andrea Mifsud are also names worth keeping in mind. #EDB2026 #EDB26 #EDB #LukasKubis