The early season action continues at the first French stage race of the season, the Étoile de Bessèges - Tour du Gard, which runs from February 5-9.
The five-stage UCI 2.1 race will take the peloton around the Gard department in southern France, with two sprint stages, two hilltop finishes, and a time trial filling out the route.
Although many 2.1 races don't bring in many WorldTour teams, Étoile de Bessèges regularly attracts eight to ten major teams as riders need race days to get up to speed for the season and the region's mild Mediterranean climate and undulating terrain provide a perfect venue. So no surprise that this year's Étoile de Bessèges startlist has some big names.
► Free streams: La Chaîne L’Équipe (France), Auvio (Belgium)
► US and Canada: FloBikes
► UK: Discovery+
► Watch anywhere: Try NordVPN, 100% risk-free
Last year's edition of the race was won by Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), who claimed the second and fifth stages and will be in attendance in 2025 to defend his title.
The first stages are typically for the sprinters and this year's edition is no different with a flat start in Bellegarde. Pedersen's rival fastman Arnaud De Lie (Lotto) will be looking here to add to his collection of stage wins.
Sam Bennett (Decathlon-AG2R) will also be in the hunt for some early-season sprint wins, and will be a rider to watch across the race's flat finishes.
Check below for all the details of how to watch the 2025 Étoile de Bessèges.
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How to watch the 2025 Etoile de Bessèges in the US
Fans in the US can often find it tricky to watch cycling but there will be action on Max, which is offering live streams for all stages of Étoile de Bessèges.
To subscribe to Max, you need a base subscription, which starts from $9.99, plus the B/R Sports add-on, which is another $9.99 but free right now for a limited time.
Watch the Etoile de Bessèges in Canada
The Étoile de Bessèges will be aired by FloBikes in Canada. A subscription will set you back CAN$203.88 for the year or CAN$16.99 on a monthly basis.
Watch the 2025 Etoile de Bessèges in the UK
In the UK, cycling fans can watch the 2025 Étoile de Bessèges on Discovery+, the streaming home of Eurosport.
Discovery+ will have live streams for all stages under the Eurosport brand. Existing subscribers can still get this on their current plans before the service is folded into TNT Sports at the end of February.
From that point on, or for new subscribers from now, it costs £30.99 a month to watch cycling on Discovery+.
2025 Etoile de Besseges free streams
Fans in the host country of France can count themselves lucky, as the Étoile de Bessèges will be shown for free on La Chaîne L'Equipe, a channel owned by the parent company of Tour de France organisers ASO.
La Chaîne L'Equipe comes on terrestrial freeview TV service TNT in France, and you can watch it online on their website via browser player, or via the TF1+ free streaming platform.
You can also watch Étoile de Bessèges for free in Belgium, as public broadcaster RTBF (French-language) will have a live stream for all stages on its streaming platform Auvio.
Based in France or Belgium but outside the country right now? A VPN will allow you to unblock your streaming services while abroad. La Chaîne L'Equipe's browser player won't work with VPN, but you can still tune in via TF1+.
Watch the 2025 Etoile de Besseges from anywhere
If you are outside of your home region and need to access your live streaming services to watch the action, you may find your access to be geo-restricted. But that doesn't mean you can't watch the races.
In this case, a VPN will come in handy. A Virtual Private Network – to give it its full name – allows your computer to pretend it's in a different country, letting you log into your streaming accounts to catch all of the racing action.
Our expert colleagues at TechRadar recommend using a VPN for streaming as well as enhanced cyber-security – they know a thing or two about VPNs and right now they rate NordVPN as the best VPN on the market.
