Thibaud Gruel puts his name on the first stage of the Route d'Occitanie, the Bram - Saint-Paul-Cap-de-Joux 171.5 km stage. The twenty-two-year-old Frenchman from Groupama FDJ United claims his third career victory, picking up where he left off with success: a year ago, on June 21st, he had won the final stage of the 2025 edition of the Route d'Occitanie.

Gruel beat Estonian Mihklels of EDF Education Easypost and Frenchman Zingle of Visma Lease a Bike in the sprint: obviously it is Gruel himself who wears the leader's jersey in the general classification.

THE RACE. Many breakaway attempts but only two actions worthy of note: the first signed by Jamie Meehan (Cofidis), Oliver Mattheis (Bike Aid), Theo Delacroix (St. Michel Preference Home) and Laurens Huys (Nice Metropole), while the second, born on a small climb 24 km from the finish, was launched by Jean-Loup Fayolle (CIC Pro Cycling) and Mattia Bais (Polti VisitMalta). These two attackers were also caught on the final climb. In the last 10 kilometres, Delacroix tried again and then Balmer (Solution Tech Nippo Rali) who attacked after the 3 km mark and was caught just 400 metres from the line.

to be updated