Overview
- The reigning world champion Tadej Pogacar lines up with Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard in their first shared one-day race since La Flèche Wallonne 2022.
- The route runs 202.5 km from Privas to near Valence with roughly 3,306 metres of climbing across three circuits designed to break up the field.
- Key obstacles include repeated ramps on the Val d'Enfer and the 7 km Saint-Romain-de-Lerps climb about 70 km from the finish, highlighted by teams and riders as potential launchpads.
- Pogacar chases a prestigious post-Worlds victory he could not display with a European jersey over the rainbow bands, Evenepoel seeks road-race redemption after his world time trial win, and Vingegaard aims to prove himself in a rare one-day outing.
- Italy starts a reduced five-man squad of Alberto Bettiol, Cristian Scaroni, Diego Ulissi, Davide Frigo and Luca Garofoli, while live TV coverage is scheduled on RaiSport from 12:00, Rai2 from 14:00 and Eurosport.