For its Grand Départ from Monaco, followed by its first two stages on French soil, the Vuelta a Espana has seen a variety of outcomes since Saturday. The opening time trial was won by Tadej Pogacar by the narrowest of margins, while Manosque provided an intense final during the second stage, in which Bastien Tronchon boldly tried his luck. The French chapter came to an end on Monday when the third stage to Font-Romeu was cancelled with fifteen kilometres to go because of a severe hailstorm. The riders will nevertheless get their first taste of the mountains on Tuesday in Andorra.
The third and final Grand Tour of the season, the Vuelta had chosen to set up camp in Monaco last Saturday to launch its 2026 edition. In the Principality, a 9.4-kilometre individual time trial served as the opening stage, one in which the Groupama-FDJ United team had no real ambitions. “It was a very technical time trial and we knew we didn’t have any specialists,” explained Benoît Vaugrenard. “The goal was simply for Clément to lose as little time as possible, but above all to avoid any crashes. The guys took it seriously, and there were no incidents to report.” Enzo Paleni finished 32nd on the stage, while Tadej Pogacar beat Ethan Hayter by less than a second. The battle for the red jersey then continued into the second stage, which featured 3,000 metres of elevation gain before a demanding finish, already tackled on the Tour de la Provence. It was a profile that appealed much more to Benoît Vaugrenard’s riders: “The goal was to support Bastien and position him as well as possible before the final three kilometres, because we knew it was very technical. We moved to the front of the peloton fairly early, and Bastien was able to approach the finale in good conditions.”
“Bastien will have other opportunities” – Benoît Vaugrenard
Perfectly positioned at the start of the final three kilometres, the Groupama-FDJ United puncher actually had to spend energy earlier than expected during the demanding finish in Manosque. “Bastien had a great final,” said Benoît. “He tried to follow when Van Aert launched his strong attack two kilometres from the finish. He was fourth at the top of the difficult section, which was very good. Unfortunately, that pushed him a little too far into the red, while the rest of the peloton eased off a bit and then caught back up at the flamme rouge. The effort he had made worked against him in the sprint, but there aren’t too many regrets. It was a choice. We had to give it a go.” He eventually finished 24th after a very long, final false flat, meaning the Frenchman was not rewarded for his efforts. “Even though he was missing a little something in the sprint, it shows that he’s going well,” Benoît added. “It’s good for his confidence, and the Vuelta is still a long way from over. He’ll have other opportunities.” On Sunday, however, the Vuelta’s French chapter was due to conclude with its first summit finish, in Font-Romeu, after a relatively steady climb of 10 kilometres at 5%. The first half of the stage, along the coast, initially allowed six riders to break clear, including Olivier Le Gac.
“There was a lot of wind at the start, and you never know what might happen, so it was good to have someone up the road,” Benoît explained. “There were echelons as well, but everything came back together with the headwind.” The riders then headed inland towards the climb preceding Font-Romeu, the Col de Mont-Louis, where Olivier Le Gac was caught and where increasingly heavy rain soon gave way to chaos. “A heavy hailstorm suddenly hit,” Benoît recounted. “We went from 40 to 15 degrees in a matter of minutes. It was quite impressive. It came down so heavily that the riders looked for shelter. It was just impossible to continue. Fortunately, they found a hotel alongside the road and managed to take refuge there. That meant they didn’t get too cold.” Around fifteen kilometres from the finish, the race was therefore suspended before being officially cancelled altogether. “It would probably have ended in a sprint between thirty riders, so it wasn’t really significant for us,” Benoît added. “But above all, they need to recover properly and avoid getting sick.”
Because tomorrow, a major challenge awaits in the principality… of Andorra this time. Almost 3,000 metres of elevation gain will have to be tackled over barely 100 kilometres, with the endless Port d’Envalira (23 km at 5%) coming right from the start. “The top riders should battle it out for the win,” Benoît predicted. “Clément and Guillaume will try to hang on for as long as possible.”
