The first important stage race of the year (and its random weather conditions) shall start on Sunday the 8th in France, one day before Tirreno-Adriatico.
This year, the course completely avoids the Massif Central, but pays a brief visit into Morvan.
Despite the avoidance of the Massif Central, looking at profiles, there seems to be only 1 stage guaranteed for pure sprinters (the 2nd). The first one may smile upon sprinters-punchers, but even the stage going down the Rhône valley ends with climbs for punchers or punchers-climbers.
We may keep an eye on (among others):
- Vingegaard🇩🇰 from Visma, for his first race since his withdrawal from the European Championship last year;
Almeida🇵🇹 from UAE, a little bit sluggish so far;- Ayuso🇪🇸
& Skjelmose🇩🇰from Lidl-Trek; - Onley🇬🇧 & Vauquelin🇫🇷 from Ineos;
- Gaudu🇫🇷 & Costiou🇫🇷 from FDJ, if you are French and masochist, or if they raise the level they showed lately;
- L. Martinez🇫🇷 from Barhein.
Stages profiles
stage 1 (Sunday the 8th): 
stage 2: 
stage 3 (Team Time Trial): 
stage 4: 
stage 5: 
stage 6: 
stage 7: 
stage 8 (Sunday the 15th): 
TV coverage is mandatory for a .Pro I think. It was planned but cancelled a few days before the race, perhaps due to the change of organiser. Yet there was some coverage: on the Youtube channel of the Lega, they showed the last 24 km or so, at 5 PM as pre-recorded (very slightly pre-recorded, broadcasted right as the race was finishing).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmSb23CMWnc
It is not the first time I watch an Italian race this way, on a Youtube channel of the League or of the Ministry of Sports. I can’t remember which one(s) exactly, perhaps one of the Autumn classics, perhaps the Settimana Internazionale C&B or the Tour of Abbruzo. Hmm, checking my old posts in French, it cannot be Abruzzo as that tour was shown on traditional TV in France. Anyway, I already watched a race or two this way 😀
Not in Italy, but I remember watching the Tour of Greece (Hellas) on Youtube too: https://www.youtube.com/@tourofhellas/streams I see that they uploaded a presentation of the (May) 2026 race: 1h45 with 5 minutes of interest and the rest of suits and ties’ speeches, apparently 😅