this post was submitted on 10 Feb 2026
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After the Marseillaise and the Star of Bessèges, we stay on the French Mediterranean border with the Tour of (the) Provence (the 'the' is there because 'the Provence' is the name of the newspaper which sponsors the race). It is again a class 1 race, but the startlist gets a bit better, and the 3 foreign WT Ineos, EF and Lidl-Trek will be there. Does it mean that the party is over for Pro Teams and Contis?
This year the format is still reduced to 3 stages but mountain comes back, with the final climb of the Mountain of Lure on stage 2 (on Saturday). It is not a very steep climb but it is long.
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Weather forecast for stage 1:
9-12°C, light rain, a little bit of wind in the back in the second half of the stage
The rain was stronger than expected and, above all, constant.
The scenario was simply the stereotyped breakaway of non-WT riders. There was no action except for Krag Andersen choosing to go ahead of the bunch in a descent and missing a curve (⇒ withdrawal).
30 km (?) from the line, the gap that had been constant around 2 mn was brought down to 1 mn by Inéos and EF who have been in control of the peloton all day (I mean, for the last 50 km I saw).
Ahead, were now only 3 guys left: one brother Bais (🇮🇹 Polti), Jonas Walton (🇨🇦 CIC) and Arnaud Tendon (🇨🇭 Roubaix). Yes, the same Tendon who was already in a breakaway on Bessèges and who was only caught in the last 50 metres! So, I was thinking, they don't take any chance with him any more, that's why they don't wait to reduce the gap like last week.
Well, Ineos then eased the pace, EF then kind of stepped down, and the gap remained for long around 30 seconds. Walton🇨🇦 who had been struggling for a while, had to let Bais🇮🇹 and Tendon🇨🇭 go.
In the final part, the gap who only around 15 seconds. Ineos had no manpower left (except one guy they intended to save to lead Godon🇫🇷 (?), FDJ pulled the peloton a bit. The peloton split a bit on winding roads. Bais🇮🇹 and Tendon🇨🇭 kept on collaborating, the gap stayed around 10-15 seconds. There were many puddles in the last mile.
In the end, nobody pulled the peloton hard enough to cover those few seconds of gap, the peloton sprinters died 50 metres behind the breakaway, and Tendon🇨🇭 finished ahead of Mattia Bais🇮🇹 who was cooked but never stopped helping!
Peloton's sprint saw Lamperti (🇺🇸 EF), Turgis (🇫🇷 Total) and H. Page (🇫🇷 Cofidis) arrive basically on the same line.
So, the party wasn't over for Contis!!! 🥳 🥳 🥳 This is the second victory in a week for Roubaix, after Heremans on Bessèges (not to mention the performances of Hardouin on that same race).
And that's yet another failure by Word Teams and big Pro Teams: failing to control and especially to finish the job by bringing down a small breakaway.
Oh, I see that Ricitello🇺🇸 is 20 seconds down! He was the GC favourite for Décathlon, and probably among all teams.
edit: ah, no, he's been put pack into the first part of the peloton. Powless (🇺🇸 EF) however is announced as being late by over 1 mn.
Almost 10 withdrawals.