Pothin Wins Opening Stage of Tour Cycliste de La Reunion 2026

Anthony Pothin of VCSD crossed the finish line first on Tuesday afternoon, taking Stage 1 of the Tour Cycliste de La Reunion 2026 after 96 kilometers of racing from Saint-Denis to Sainte-Suzanne. The route threaded through Saint-Andre and Bras-Panon, accumulating 997 meters of positive elevation and 859 meters of negative elevation over roughly two and a half hours. Despite the stage win, Mauritian Tristan Hardy kept the yellow jersey, holding his overall lead by three seconds.

Seventeen teams and 78 athletes, most from Reunion with a contingent from Mauritius, departed Stade de l’Est at 1 p.m. for a neutral start before racing began on Route Nationale 2 near Gillot. Easterly headwinds made the afternoon difficult from the outset. Early escape attempts by five or six riders were absorbed back into the peloton, and the pace remained volatile through the opening kilometers toward Saint-Andre.

Christopher Henriette of the VCO-VSP alliance was the most ambitious attacker. He spent an extended period alone at the front, building a lead exceeding one minute and at times approaching two. But approximately 20 kilometers from the finish, the effort cracked. The peloton caught him roughly 15 kilometers before the line.

By then, the race had reshaped itself. On the final circuit lap at Bras-Panon, Antony Chamerat-Dumont of VCO-VSP drove the pace while Hardy stayed protected by his teammates and Pothin tracked closely behind. Multiple relay changes compressed the group heading toward Deux Rives and the concluding kilometers.

The decisive moment came on the climb toward Bras des Chevrettes. Pothin launched an initial escape after the categorized climb, though he acknowledged it did not immediately stick. “It made a selection but it didn’t really stick,” he said. In the final hundreds of meters, he went again. “I knew how the finish was laid out. I launched my sprint and won. It’s one of my training roads so I know it by heart.”

Pothin was measured about what the result means at this early stage. “Yesterday I came close to victory, and today I had pretty good legs throughout the race. Tristan rode an incredible race and followed all the attacks. I took advantage of that game by staying second, trying to stay with him and Solal, the white jersey wearer. That promises well: good legs, a top team. It’s the beginning of the Tour, we’re not going to get too excited, but the signs are green.”

Chamerat-Dumont finished second. Solal Benetiere, wearing the white jersey as best young rider, took third.

Hardy, still in yellow, was candid about the work ahead. “It went well. A nice course but quite a bit of wind. We had a good team, we controlled well, but at the end I found myself a bit alone. We’ll need to recover well because this is just the beginning and the other stages are much harder than this. I like the mountains, I like time trials, and I think we’ll need to be consistent and do everything to be at our best each day.”

The jersey standings filled out across the afternoon. Jeremy Clain of CCSL Saint-Louis took three of four available sprint points during the stage, accumulating 13 total and earning the green jersey for best sprinter. Henriette collected five points by winning the third sprint; Deurweilher took the fourth. Pothin claimed 10 points on the categorized climb three kilometers from the finish, securing the polka-dot jersey for best climber. Hardy earned eight points on that same climb, Chamerat-Dumont six, Deurweilher four, and Benetiere two. Ulrich Marcy received the black jersey for best masters rider, and Henriette took the blue jersey for most combative rider, recognition for his long solo effort.

Clain, speaking about the green jersey competition, noted the pressure building in the bunch. “There’s a high level, the young guys are there, they’re waiting for me at the turn. We’re going to try to defend the green jersey as it should be defended. The team is solid, from the start we’ve been working to play for the distinctive jerseys. It’s going to be a nice fight.”

Six stages remain through August 9. Coverage continues on Reunion La 1ere television, radio, web platforms and social media. Whether Hardy’s three-second cushion survives the mountain stages he says he prefers is the question the race now turns on.