The early season action continues at the first French stage race of the season, the Etoile de Bessèges, which runs from February 1-5.
The five-stage 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.
Cyclingnews will bring you full live coverage, reports, results, news, interviews and analysis of the 2023 Etoile de Bessèges. Read on to find out how to watch the Bessèges via live stream, no matter your location, with ExpressVPN.
The start list isn't packed with massive star names, but there are plenty of major names and interesting riders lining up for the race.
Groupama-FDJ leader Thibaut Pinot is perhaps the biggest star at the race, the Frenchman kicking off his final season in the peloton. He'll be joined by versatile fastman Jake Stewart on the French squad.
AG2R Citröen bring a strong squad with Benoît Cosnefroy heading up the team along with Classics men Oliver Naesen and Greg Van Avermaet. Israel-Premier Tech's team also has a Classics feel, with Sep Vanmarcke, Dylan Teuns and Hugo Houle lining up.
At EF Education-EasyPost, Neilson Powless lines up alongside Magnus Cort and Mark Padun, while Ineos Grenadiers bring Michał Kwiatkowski, Pavel Sivakov and Ben Turner. Former world champion Mads Pedersen leads Trek-Segafredo, while promising sprinter Arnaud De Lie heads up Lotto-Dstny.
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Others to watch include Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies), Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Dan McLay, Luca Mozzato (Arkéa-Samsic), and Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis).
Check below for all the details of how to watch the 2023 Etoile de Bessèges.
Live streams
Follow Cyclingnews on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for alerts on important stories and action during the race. Meanwhile, ExpressVPN can help you watch the Etoile de Bessèges, no matter your location.
Unfortunately, the 2023 Etoile de Bessèges will not be aired on television or streaming in the UK. It will be showing in the USA and Canada with Eurosport and GCN+, while Flobikes are not offering coverage of the action this year. A year's subscription to GCN+ costs £39.99/$45.35 while a monthly subscription is £6.99/$7.93.
The race will be aired in France via L'Equipe TV, with live coverage available each afternoon this week. Radio coverage is also available via France Bleu. Check below for the race schedule.
If you live outside a broadcast zone or are on holiday outside your country and find that the live streams are geo-restricted, you can get around this by getting access to them by simulating being back in your home country via a 'virtual private network', or VPN, for your laptop, tablet or mobile.
TechRadar tested hundreds of VPNs and recommends the number-one VPN currently available as Express VPN. With ExpressVPN, you can watch on many devices at once including Smart TVs, Fire TV Stick, PC, Mac, iPhone, Android phone, iPads, tablets, etc.
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, joining in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Before joining the team, they had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly and Rouleur.
Dani has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France, Road World Championships, and the spring Classics. They have interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Mathieu van der Poel, Demi Vollering, and Remco Evenepoel. Their favourite races are the Giro d'Italia, Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix.
