Back on the Limousin roads where he triumphed last season, Ewen Costiou lived up to his status as defending champion from the very first demanding day of the 2026 edition. On Wednesday, the day after an opening stage decided in a sprint, the Breton not only took the race by the horns, but also launched a solo move inside the final ten kilometres to claim his third victory of the season, while taking possession of the leader’s jersey. A jersey he will now seek to defend with the support of his teammates over the final two stages.
While the Tour du Limousin-Périgord—Nouvelle-Aquitaine does not feature major climbs, it is nevertheless a race whose roads very rarely offer the riders any respite. Proof of that came on Tuesday’s opening stage, from Veyrac to Dun-le-Palestel, which was considered the most manageable stage of the week but still had no fewer than 2,000 metres of elevation gain. A leg-breaking profile, endless false flats, and therefore a race of attrition were all but guaranteed. Even so, the faster riders had their focus on the opening day, which featured no huge difficulties. The final climb, just four kilometres from the finish, averaged only 3.5%. “We wanted to get through this day relatively safely,” explained Yvon Caër. “We were hoping to be in the mix with Tom, who hadn’t raced for a long time, but we stayed a bit conservative and the real goal was simply to finish within the winner’s time. In the end, everything went well. We gave Rémi his chance in the final, because that’s his temperament, but we quickly realized that a lot of teams wanted a sprint. Then there was a little scare when Ewen punctured ten kilometres from the finish. We were a long way back in the line of cars and the wheel change was a bit frantic, but we managed it.” The defending champion was therefore able to regain his place in the bunch and finish in the same time as the winner, Noa Isidore, while Tom Donnenwirth took ninth place in the uphill sprint.
“I tried something a little different” – Ewen Costiou
At the end of that opening stage, however, no real selection had been made. That was precisely what the second stage, on Wednesday, was designed to achieve. Covering 184 kilometres to Lanouaille, it featured four consecutive climbs over the final thirty kilometres. “Initially, we had more or less marked Thursday’s stage as the key one, but after thinking it over, we decided that waiting for that queen stage would be a risk,” Yvon explained. “We had identified today’s final as being extremely tough and we really did everything we could to put Ewen in the best possible conditions. The idea wasn’t necessarily to target the stage win, but at least to eliminate a few rivals so that the overall classification would become clearer. We didn’t want to focus solely on Thursday, because the terrain was already favourable today. So we controlled the race to give Ewen confidence, and we know that on these roads you suffer more when you’re further back in the bunch.” “The goal this morning was to be aggressive,” Ewen confirmed. “From the briefing onwards, I said I wanted us to take control, to pull, to stay well positioned and show that we were there. Then the idea was to make the race harder with the guys, particularly with Tom on the first climb of the final”.
Before the main showdown, however, Lewis Bower was able to contribute to the team’s effort before being forced to abandon, while Josh Kench spent a long time driving the chase behind the breakaway. As the race approached the Côte de Génis (3 km at 5%), 28 kilometres from the finish, the escapees had less than a minute in hand, and Groupama-FDJ United soon moved to the front to set up their Breton leader. Tom Donnenwirth rode almost the entire climb at a hard pace, and the race then exploded. “It was difficult for all of us to get back together, so I launched my first attack a little earlier than planned,” Ewen continued. Initially going clear with Aranburu, the man from Brest was then joined by three more competitors, but a lack of cooperation meant a small peloton bridged back to them on the next climb. The favourites then eased off for a bit, before launching another attack on the Côte de Saint-Mesmin (1 km at 8%), twelve kilometres from the finish. The last remaining breakaway rider was caught there, while Ewen Costiou managed to follow the accelerations and make the front group of nine riders. That move quickly distanced itself from the rest of the field and headed towards the final climb of the day, 1,400 metres long with an average gradient just above 5%. “I realised that it was a little harder to make the difference on the short, steep climbs,” Ewen explained. “So I tried something a little different towards the end. I attacked right at the foot of the very last climb, coming from behind, and I managed to get a gap.”
“When you have the leader’s jersey, you find another level” – Yvon Caër
The 23-year-old immediately put several dozen metres into his rivals and did not hesitate from then on. “I think they were pulling behind, but they were also looking at each other a little, and I was able to build a good gap,” he said. “Then I did what I do best: I resisted.” “Our rivals certainly had plenty of fight in them, but the succession of climbs really weakened the whole field, while Ewen looked very strong to us,” Yvon noted. “In the end, he went clear on the least difficult climb, but it was the fourth one. And we know that when Ewen gets a small gap, he has the ability to maintain it thanks to his qualities as a time trialist.” At the top of the climb, around eight kilometres from the finish, the Breton nevertheless had barely fifteen seconds of an advantage. “I wasn’t necessarily confident four kilometres from the finish because there were several teams with multiple riders behind, but Ewen didn’t fade at all,” Yvon continued. “That shows just how good his condition was.” On the final kilometre of uphill false flat, and despite having been riding at full gas for around ten minutes, Ewen Costiou ultimately gave his chasers nothing back. He even added a few more seconds to his advantage to cross the line victorious, celebrating the performance as it deserved, with a seventeen-second margin over his closest rival.
He thus claimed his third victory of the season, following his successes at the Étoile de Bessèges, and naturally took the yellow leader’s jersey. “I was a little frustrated not to have won a stage last year, even though winning the overall classification is always better,” the rider admitted. “I really wanted to raise my arms in victory when I came back here. Now it’s done. We’re going to fight with the team to keep the jersey, and I really want to thank the guys. They did a fantastic job all day. We took control of the race and the work was rewarded. This victory feels really good for the whole team.” “It’s also a victory that does Ewen a lot of good,” Yvon continued. “The Tour was difficult. There were times when he was riding really strongly, and other times when he was inexplicably below par. On the other hand, we know that he recovers very quickly after a Grand Tour, and last week he told me that his recovery was great. He proved it today. Obviously, the goal is to keep the jersey over the next two days. I think we have what it takes to put Ewen in the best possible conditions, and his good form isn’t going to disappear overnight. We also know that when you have the leader’s jersey, you find another level. We saw today that everyone was determined, and tomorrow, on the queen stage, we’ll have to be extremely vigilant and strong.”
