Étoile de Bessèges

The Étoile de Bessèges (English: Star of 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 stage race run over five days in 1974. Since 2005, it is on the calendar of the UCI Europe Tour as a 2.1 event and features as the earliest stage races of the European season.[1]

Étoile de Bessèges

Race details
Date	Early February
Region	Gard department, Occitanie
English name	Star of Bessèges
Local name(s)	Étoile de Bessèges (in French)
Discipline	Road
Competition	UCI Europe Tour
Type	Stage race
Web site	www.etoiledebesseges.com
History
First edition	1971 (1971)
Editions	53 (as of 2023)
First winner	Jean-Luc Molinéris (FRA)
Most wins	Jean-Luc Molinéris (FRA)  Jo Planckaert (BEL)  Jérôme Coppel (FRA) (2 wins)
Most recent	Neilson Powless (USA)

The Étoile de Bessèges is the first of several stage races held in the hilly South of France in February, preceding La Méditerranéenne, the Tour du Haut Var and the Tour La Provence.[2] These early-season races are competed mainly by French teams and are considered preparations for Paris–Nice, the first European World Tour event in March.[2]