The 2016 Étoile de Bessèges (English: Star of Bessèges) was a
road cyclingstage race that took place between 3 and 7 February 2016. The race was rated as a
2.1 event as part of the
2016 UCI Europe Tour. It was the 46th edition of the
Étoile de Bessèges cycling race.[1]
The race included five stages. The first four were road stages; the fifth and final stage was a 12-kilometre (7.5 mi)
individual time trial. The champion of the
2015 Étoile de Bessèges,
Bob Jungels, did not take part in the 2016 event as his team,
Etixx–Quick-Step, was not among those invited.[1]
The first two stages were won in sprints by
Bryan Coquard (
Direct Énergie), giving him the lead of the race. His teammate,
Sylvain Chavanel, won a reduced sprint on the following stage to take over the race lead. He retained this lead in the following stage, won in a breakaway by
Ángel Madrazo (
Caja Rural–Seguros RGA). He lost his lead, however, in the final stage time trial: he lost 30 seconds to
Jérôme Coppel, who therefore won the race overall.
Tony Gallopin (
Lotto–Soudal) came second, with
Thibaut Pinot (
FDJ) third. Chavanel finished fourth. Coquard won the points classification and FDJ won the team classification.
Roland Thalmann (
Team Roth) won the mountains classification and
Pierre Latour (
AG2R La Mondiale) won the youth classification, having finished seventh overall.