A near-perfect week. Laurence Pithie took the pink jersey with an uphill-sprint win on Stage 1 and never gave it back, adding second on the Arenberg cobbles and a gritty, largely solo defence on the Cassel summit to win the overall plus the points and young-rider jerseys. The team backed him with relentless control work — Callum Thornley's lead-out and pacing earned repeated praise from the sports director, and Thornley even handed Pithie his bike after a late Stage 5 mechanical. Jordi Meeus then bookended the race with a dominant final-stage bunch sprint, lead out by Danny van Poppel for a team 1-2. Two stages, the GC and three classifications: the complete result.

Movistar were Pithie's most persistent challengers. Natnael Tesfatsion won the punchy Stage 4 to Cassel with a perfectly timed late acceleration and rode into second overall, finishing the week just seven seconds shy of the win. The team also led the teams classification through the middle of the race on collective strength (Canal, Serrano, Barrenetxea all prominent). Without a way to claw back bonus seconds on the flat final stage, second was the ceiling — but a strong, aggressive Hauts-de-France campaign.

Rasmus Tiller was the standout of the cobbled day, soloing to victory in Wallers Arenberg on the Paris-Roubaix pavé and using the result to climb onto the final GC podium in third. The Norwegian's classics strength made him a constant presence near the front through the selective middle stages, and Erik Resell added top-10 sprint placings. A productive week that confirmed Tiller's form on the cobbles.

The ProTeam stole the headlines on Stage 2: with two riders (Papon and Hänninen) up the road from km 13, Nice Métropole-Côte d'Azur turned an aggressive plan into Victor Papon's breakaway win in Liévin — their first victory of the 2026 season against WorldTour and ProTeam sprint squads. Papon also held the mountains and, briefly, the points jersey. A standout day for a small French outfit.

Decathlon were consistently in the mix without quite landing the headline win. Stan Dewulf rode a strong all-round week to finish fourth overall and was second on the Stage 4 summit at Cassel, while Gianluca Pollefliet sprinted to third on the final stage in Dunkerque. A solid, near-podium return from the puncheur-and-cobbles stages that suited the squad.

Liam Slock was Lotto-Intermarché's GC card and delivered a steady week through the cobbles and the Cassel climb to take fifth overall at +14s — competitive on every selective day without ever quite challenging for a stage win. A reliable top-five from the squad's classics-oriented rider.

Cofidis came closest on the opening day, when Bryan Coquard was beaten only by Pithie in the Laon uphill sprint and briefly sat second overall and led the teams classification. As the race turned to the cobbles and the Cassel summit, the pure-sprint cards faded down the order and Cofidis (Coquard, Maisonobe, Izquierdo, Thomas all in the GC top 15 at points) couldn't convert a stage despite plenty of presence. A near-miss week.