Oliver Naesen to miss Tour de France for first time in 10 years, plus the latest from Decathlon CMA CGM

The 35-year-old Naesen rode the Tour from 2016 to 2025 ten times and finished the French race in all but one edition (he did not complete the 2022 race). At both Decathlon and its predecessor AG2R, he was generally responsible for supporting GC leaders like Ben O’Connor, Romain Bardet, and now Gall. The latter will be the team leader at the Giro next year, and Naesen will also be there if all goes according to plan.

The Belgian will begin his season at the Tour de la Provence and then — as every year — contest the bulk of the Belgian races. Naesen says he is looking forward to interacting with sprint leader Olav Kooij: “It seems great to me to ride on a team that gets to enjoy champagne now and then,” said the ever-talkative Belgian.

After Roubaix, the focus quickly turns to the Giro, where he will support Gall in the trickier moments. The Austrian is not known as a strong bike handler and will thus depend on Naesen, who hopes the Giro will be one with not too much rain. Tobias Lund Andresen becomes the sprint leader for the French team in Italy.

Tiesj Benoot will ride the Tour de France after all. He chooses his familiar programme of recent years, starting with the Algarve Race and the Opening Weekend races. In contrast to former teammate Wout van Aert, the ex-winner (of what the article doesn’t specify) is not choosing a return to Strade Bianche, instead planning a training camp at altitude to be in top form from E3 Saxo Classic through Liège–Bastogne–Liège. In the Ardennes, Paul Lapeira and Aurélien Paret-Peintre will also start.

“Those are the races that matter for the team and me,” Benoot told us. The always-present Belgian expressed hope of winning a great race in 2026, but also hopes to be involved in the finales of the big classics again, where he has strung together podium places in recent years.

Olav Kooij was absent from Decathlon CMA CGM’s media day due to a viral infection — and will likely also miss the UAE Tour. Normally, he would have also ridden some of the Belgian classics with his leadout train of Daan Hoole, Cees Bol, and Robbe Ghys. Kooij will also make his Tour de France debut in July, in which the team aims for the green jersey and stage wins.

Stefan Bissegger told IDLProCycling.com that he, like Hoole, will again be part of the core group in both the spring and the Tour at Decathlon CMA CGM. The Swiss rider was eighth at Paris-Roubaix last year after Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar went clear following a puncture occurring at the same moment as Mads Pedersen’s.

Paul Seixas will begin his season — as known — in the Algarve and will also ride Strade Bianche, the Tour of the Basque Country, La Flèche Wallonne, and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Afterwards a decision will be made whether the French top talent will ride, for example, the Tour de France or the Vuelta a España. In the Spanish race, new signing Matthew Riccitello will also certainly participate, along with Gall and Léo Bisiaux.