
France’s 2024 road racing season gets underway in style this weekend, with the hilly, technical Grand Prix La Marseillaise on Sunday preceding a punchy, varied five-day course in the Étoile de Bessèges-Tour du Gard, which starts on Wednesday.
Double defending champion Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), who took a stunning solo win in the GP La Marseillaise last January before narrowly outpowering Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) at the last possible moment for the overall victory in Bessèges, is not taking part, but there are plenty of high-profile potential successors.