Upcoming: The 38th Etoile de Bessèges, Feb 6-10

The 38th Etoile de Bessèges stage race begins today in France, marking the first race of the year for many prominent pros. The five stage Etoile de Bessèges has been won by a number of reputable pros in recent years, including Robbie McEwin, Laurent Brochard, Jan Svorada and Patrice Halgand, to name a few.

Super Mullet: Former world champ Brochard won Etoile de Bessèges in 2004

This year's addition brings some heavy hitters to the start line on February 6th. Patrice Halgand, a former overall winner, will begin his season in the French race, as will last year's Dauphiné Libéré winner Christophe Moreau for the French Agritubel team. In fact, the Aritubel team looks on paper as one of the strongest in the race. Moreau will be joined by seasoned French pros Benoît Salmon, Cédric Hervé and former French national champ Nicolas Vogondy for the five day race.

2008 French champion Moreau will be keen to show off his new jersey to his fellow countrymen

Other notable names entered include young Laurent Lefevre of Bouygues Telecom, Sandy Casar (former top ten overall in the TDF) and Sébastien Chavanel of Francaise des Jeux, and Belgian sprinter Tom Steels of the continental Landbouwkrediet Tonissteiner team. The former Belgian national champion will be looking to find the form he had years ago riding for the Mapei and Lotto teams.

De-railed: An early season crash at the Tour of Qatar destroyed Steels's 2007 season. He'll hope for better luck by starting his season in France in 2008

Also making their debut in Europe will be the American Slipstream outfit. The Etoile de Bessèges race is known as a rough-and-tumble event, and will be a good early season primer for the young team. Of particular interest to fans will be American Tom Danielson, who is embarking on his "Spring Suffering" campaign, which will see him ride the toughest early season European races as a way to learn how to better handle himself within a hostile peloton. Danielson has long had trouble holding his place in a pack, and races like Bessèges will help him learn how to be more efficient while riding with an aggressive group of riders. The hope in the end is that Danielson will come out of the early season with a newfound confidence riding within the pack that he can take with him to the Grand Tours.

Finding himself: Danielson, now with Slipstream, will look to find his rythym in France for 2008, instead of the "softer" Tour of California

Favorites for the race include Slipstream's Rider Hesjedal, whom has good early season form and Samuel Dumoulin of Cofidis, an experienced French pro who will be motivated on home soil. In the end, expect the fight for the overall spot to come down to the three strongest French teams, Francaise des Jeux, Cofidis, and Agritubel. The season is now officially underway, as pro racing resumes in Europe.

Former mountain bike king Rider Hesjedal comes to the Etoile de Bessèges with good form for his new team, Slipstream. Here he is shown in the Phonak team kit, where he rode with Tyler Hamilton, Santi Botero and , Alex Zulle, and Axel Merckx