Racing under way in Besseges and Valencia

The INEOS Grenadiers kicked off their first European stage races of 2025 with competitive outings at both Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana and Etoile de Besseges.

In Spain, the action commenced in Valencia with a lengthy 34.3-kilometre team time trial. The team came home fifth in Orihuela amid a tight battle for the podium places - with positions second through fifth separated by just six seconds.

Lidl-Trek produced an impressive early benchmark which proved good enough for victory by 46 seconds. The Grenadiers came home 51 seconds back, with the race set to hit the mountains on Thursday with a first-category summit finish.

On the opening TTT, Tobias Foss told Eurosport: "We executed well – I think we did a good job. We went fast, but clearly not fast enough. There’s probably only me and Bob (Jungels) that are over 70 kilos in this team – so we were missing some proper flat guys. I’m proud of what we did and it was a really strong effort by everyone. I think we should be happy.

"It was a headwind all the way so it was about trying to find a solid, hard pace, keeping it steady and then going a bit harder when it went uphill. The last 10km went really fast so I was quite empty at that point. But [the stage was] quite easy to pace actually.

"It’s nice to finally start [the season]. It’s been a short but long winter. It’s been going well. I’ve been taking steps and getting stronger and more healthy with each month. I’m very happy and looking forward to a nice season."

Over in France, Axel Laurance sprinted to ninth place on the tough uphill conclusion to stage one.

The Frenchman was piloted well by Filippo Ganna in the closing stages, but was forced to battle back from being edged off the road with 1.5km to go.

The day saw a constant threat of crosswinds, but with no major splits the action came back together for the uphill kick, won by Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step).