Van Avermaet line up for French stage race Following the start of the French road season at the GP La Marseillaise at the weekend, the Etoile de Bessèges marks the first stage race in the south of France kicking off on Wednesday and running for five days A number of big-name riders have opted to start their season at the race in southern France, including Olympic champion Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) home favourite Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) and star sprinter Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates) Cyclingnews will be bringing you full reports Ganna, Carapaz, Bettiol, Pedersen and Pinot opt for hilly early-season racing at Etoile de Bessèges Time trial world champion Filippo Ganna will join Carapaz in lining up for an Ineos Grenadiers squad that includes several new signings such as Magnus Sheffield and Ben Tulett Classics star Greg Van Avermaet heads up the AG2R Citroën selection, while several other names expected to factor through the spring also start. Former Tour of Flanders winner Alberto Bettiol rides for EF Education-EasyPost, while former world champion Mads Pedersen joins Bauke Mollema racing for Trek-Segafredo Magnus Cort and Michael Valgren are also racing for EF while other major names at the race include Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) The race kicks off with two uphill finishes in Bellegardes and Rousson before stage 3 offers something for the sprinters despite hills late on Stage 4 brings the summit finish at Mont Bouquet while the final day is an 11km time trial that should act as the GC decider interviews and all the action during the Etoile de Bessèges The race commentated in English is only available on GCN+, which is available via GCN+ Both of the livestreams look set to be geo-restricted If you live outside a broadcast zone or are on holiday outside your country and find that the live streams to be geo-restricted you can get around this by getting access to them by simulating being back in your home country via a 'virtual private network' Cyclingnews is the world's leader in English-language coverage of professional cycling Started in 1995 by University of Newcastle professor Bill Mitchell the site was one of the first to provide breaking news and results over the internet in English The site was purchased by Knapp Communications in 1999 and owner Gerard Knapp built it into the definitive voice of pro cycling major publishing house Future PLC has owned the site and expanded it to include top features The site continues to be the most comprehensive and authoritative English voice in professional cycling Vuelta a Valencia: Highlights as Evenepoel claims victory in opening stage AdvertisementHow was your experience today Europeans braced Thursday for the expected peak of a sweltering heatwave that has sent temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius with schools in France closing and wildfires in Spain spinning out of control Governments warned citizens to take extra precautions with the high temperatures also causing a build-up of pollution and emergency calls to hospitals increased Exceptional for arriving so early in summer the heatwave will on Thursday and Friday likely send thermometers above 40°C in France A forest fire in Torre del Espanol in Spain's northeastern Catalonia region raged out of control devouring land despite the efforts of hundreds of firefighters who worked through the night a 72-year-old homeless man was found dead at the main train station after falling ill due to the heatwave Across Europe people frolicked in fountains to stay cool while zookeepers handed out cakes of ice packed with fish mango or cherries to keep the animals cool French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn said people had to be prepared for the peak of the heatwave and expressed irritation that some appeared not to be taking the advice on board.  "We see citizens who are quite irresponsible and continue to go jogging between midday and 2pm," she told France 2 TV She complained also of seeing "parents who leave their children in the car to do some quick shopping or leave them without a hat in the open air." Buzyn said French authorities were seeing an increase in the number of calls to emergency services and that she was concerned there would be an influx of people going to hospital The average maximum temperature recorded Wednesday in France of 34.9 C was already a record for the month of June said state weather forecaster Meteo France Even higher temperatures are expected on Friday where areas in the south could see peaks of 42 to 44°C Meteo France said France's all-time record could be broken - an August 12 2003 reading of 44.1°C in Saint-Christol-les-Ales and Conqueyrac in the southern Gard region Germany on Wednesday saw its June temperature record broken breaking a previous record dating back to 1947 As Germans attempted to cool off amid scorching temperatures at least four people died in bathing accidents in different parts of the country on Wednesday And some areas of Germany are experiencing water shortages and around the North Rhein Westfalia towns of Loehne residents were told to only use drinking water for vital purposes or face a €1,000 fine French hotel group Accor said it would open up its air-conditioned lobbies to the elderly until Saturday to ensure their wellbeing There has been no coordinated shutdown of schools but some have closed in parts of France while others advised parents to keep children at home Schools in Paris will stay open until the end of the week when the summer holidays will begin authorities have shut some primary schools including in Essonne where around 59 educational institutions have closed Residents of the French city of Grenoble were unable to use two municipal swimming pools despite the record temperatures due to a row sparked by use of the full-body Islamic burkini swimsuit.  Lifeguards had asked for the shutdown after Muslim women clad in burkinis had gone to swim in defiance of a municipal ban Fountains in France have become a refuge from the heat Beaches along the Spanish coast are packed Proof for Italians that it really was as hot as it felt The increase in temperature has also led to a build-up of pollution in already clogged cities authorities have banned the most-polluting cars from the roads Scientists warn that global warming linked to human fossil fuel use could make such scorchers more frequent "Global temperatures are increasing due to climate change," said Len Shaffrey professor of climate science at the University of Reading in Britain "The global rise in temperatures means the probability that an extreme heatwave will occur is also increasing." please register for free or log in to your account Hoffstetter takes second and Boasson Hagen third As the road reared upwards in the final kilometre with Chris Lawless ripping clear with a shade under 400 metres to race Pedersen responded well to the Briton’s effort before kicking past him on the toughest section of the climb By the time the gradient began to level off in the final 200 metres Pedersen already had a winning advantage and he kept his gear turning over to take the stage honours and the overall lead Hofstetter beat a fast-finishing Boasson Hagen to second and Alberto Bettiol (EF Education-EasyPost) took 4th ahead of Michael Burgaudeau (Total Energies) while the rest of the 27-strong front group fragmented in the final kick towards the line so impressive in powering the front echelon in the final hour of racing finished 7 seconds down in the company of another of the front group’s strongmen another notable contributor to the success of the echelon was unable to match the explosive efforts of Pedersen et al on the drag to the line Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) were among the riders to miss the pivotal split and they reached Bellegarde in the main peloton who will wear the cobalt jersey on stage 2 from Saint-Christol-les-Alès to Rousson Thanks to the stage winner’s time bonus Pedersen holds a lead of 5 seconds over Hofstetter in the general classification with Boasson Hagen third at 7 seconds and Bettiol 4th at 11 seconds The drama on the opening day of Étoile des Bessèges was crammed into the second half of the 160km run around Bellegarde at least by the bracing standards of early-season racing a relatively gentle start to proceedings on Wednesday Lindsay De Vylder (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise) forged clear in the opening kilometres and the rest of the peloton was content to leave him to his lone endeavour for the first half of the stage The Belgian clocked 40km in the first hour of racing gradually opening a lead of 3:30 over the peloton before his advantage gradually started to contract again as the day drew on and the intensity rose steadily in the peloton De Vylder’s lead was down to 1:10 come the first of three ascents of the Côte de la Tour with 94k remaining and he was already on the cusp of being caught by the bunch when the day’s decisive move took shape amid the brisk crosswinds the race encountered with 70km or so remaining Arkéa-Samsic and TotalEnergies were prominent in setting a crisp tempo at the head of the peloton which was stretched into a long line and quickly brought to breaking point Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies) and Toms Skuijns (Trek-Segafredo) were among the strongmen in a front group that soon struck up a solid working alliance combining to open a lead of 45 seconds over the rest of the peloton Uno-X were prominent in attempting to marshal a chase but their efforts were unable to keep pace with those of Ganna et al mindful that the uphill finish was perfectly tailored to his gifts tried gamely to bridge across as part of a seven-man group that also included Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) He came within sight of the front group but the final junction proved beyond him and he eventually faded back into the peloton Lukasz Wisniowski (EF Education-EasyPost) and Skuijns were to the fore in attempting to tee up their respective companions Bettiol and Pedersen ahead of the finale while a delegation from EF Education-EasyPost also helped to disrupt the chase efforts of Groupama-FDJ and Israel-Premier Tech behind The gap dropped inside 40 seconds on the run-in but the front group never looked in danger of being caught and TotalEnergies looked to use their strength in numbers to dictate terms on the final kick towards the line Lawless’ initial acceleration was ferocious but Pedersen had his measure and the Dane produced a searing effort of his own to continue his fine start to 2022 following on from his second place finish at the Grand Prix de la Marseillaise on Sunday