The 2016 Étoile de Bessèges () was a

road cycling Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling in which cyclists ride on paved roadways. It includes recreational, racing, commuting, and utility cycling. As users of the road, road cyclists are generally expected to obey the same laws a ...

stage race A race stage, leg, or heat is a unit of a racing, race that has been divided in several parts for the reason such as length of the distance to be covered, as in a multi-day race, multi-day event. Usually, such a race consists of "ordinary" stages ...

that took place between 3 and 7 February 2016. The race was rated as a 2.1 event as part of the

2016 UCI Europe Tour The 2016 UCI Europe Tour was the twelfth season of the UCI Europe Tour. The 2016 season began on 28 January 2016 with the Vuelta a Mallorca, Trofeo Santanyí-Ses Salines-Campos and ended on 23 October 2016 with the Chrono des Nations. French rid ...

. It was the 46th edition of the

Étoile de Bessèges The Étoile de Bessèges () is an early-season five-day road bicycle racing stage race held annually around Bessèges, in the Gard department of the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France. First organized in 1971 as a one-day race, it became a ...

cycling race. The race included five stages. The first four were road stages; the fifth and final stage was a

individual time trial An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa a cronometro'' "stopwatch stage"). There are also trac ...

. The champion of the 2015 Étoile de Bessèges,

Bob Jungels Bob Jungels (born 22 September 1992) is a Luxembourgish road bicycle racer, who rides for UCI WorldTeam . Career Born in Rollingen, Mersch, Luxembourg, Jungels competed in the Tour de France for the first time in 2015 Tour de France, 2015, as pa ...

, did not take part in the 2016 event as his team, , was not among those invited. The first two stages were won in sprints by

Bryan Coquard Bryan Coquard (born 25 April 1992) is a French cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam . Since turning professional, Coquard has taken more than fifty victories in road racing, primarily in French races – including six stage wins and an overall v ...

(), giving him the lead of the race. His teammate,

Sylvain Chavanel Sylvain Chavanel'' Procycling'', UK, November 2008 (born 30 June 1979) is a French former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2000 and 2018 for the , , and two spells with the / team. His brother Sébastien Chavanel ...

, won a reduced sprint on the following stage to take over the race lead. He retained this lead in the following stage, won in a breakaway by

Ángel Madrazo Ángel Madrazo Ruiz (born 30 July 1988) is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist, who competed as a professional from 2009 to 2023. Madrazo left the at the end of the 2013 season, and joined for the 2014 season. In August 2016 ann ...

(). He lost his lead, however, in the final stage time trial: he lost 30 seconds to

Jérôme Coppel Jérôme Coppel (born 6 August 1986) is a French former road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2008 and 2016 for the , , and teams. Career Born in Annemasse, Haute-Savoie, Coppel and compatriot Romain Sicard were the focus of a fo ...

, who therefore won the race overall.

Tony Gallopin Tony Gallopin (born 24 May 1988) is a French former professional Road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist, who competed as a professional from 2008 to 2023. During his career, he won a stage at the 2014 Tour de France and the 2018 Vuelta a Españ ...

() came second, with

Thibaut Pinot Thibaut Pinot (born 29 May 1990) is a French former professional road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional from 2010 to 2023, spending his entire career with . Once considered one of the most promising talents in French cycling, he finis ...

() third. Chavanel finished fourth. Coquard won the points classification and FDJ won the team classification. Roland Thalmann () won the mountains classification and

Pierre Latour Pierre Latour (born 12 October 1993) is a French cyclist who currently rides for UCI ProTeam . He is a stage winner of the Vuelta a España, and twice the winner of French National Time Trial Championships. Career Latour was born in Romans-sur ...

() won the youth classification, having finished seventh overall.

Teams

Nineteen teams were invited to start the race. These included four

UCI WorldTeam A UCI WorldTeam (2015–present), previously UCI ProTeam (2005–2014), is the term used by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to name a cycling team of the highest category in professional road bicycle racing, road cycling, the UCI World Tou ...

s, six

UCI Professional Continental The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...

teams and nine

UCI Continental The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...

teams.

Stages

Stage 1

3 February 2016 – Bellegarde– Beaucaire,

Stage 2

4 February –

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Located between the Med ...

– Méjannes-le-Clap,

Stage 3

5 February –

Bessèges Bessèges (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Gard Departments of France, department in France. It is situated on the river Cèze. History Historically Bessèges was a hamlet of Robiac-Rochessadoule, Robiac. Its importance began wit ...

–

Stage 4

6 February – Tavel–

Laudun Laudun-l'Ardoise (; ) is a commune in the Gard department in the Occitania region in Southern France. It is located on the departmental border with Vaucluse, which is also the regional border with Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. The commune name w ...

Stage 5

7 February –

Alès Alès () is a Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania Regions of France, region in Southern France. Until 1926, i ...

–

, (

ITT ITT may refer to: Communication *Tank phone, Infantry-Tank Telephone, a device allowing infantrymen to speak to the occupants of armoured vehicles. Mathematics *Intuitionistic type theory, other name of Martin-Löf Type Theory *Intensional typ ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2016 Etoile de Besseges Etoile de Besseges Etoile de Besseges

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...