The heat arrived before the race did. By the time the elite men's peloton rolled out of La Tour-du-Pin on Sunday morning, temperatures in the Isère valley were already climbing toward 35°C — enough that organisers removed one of the fourteen road-race circuits before the flag fell, reducing the distance from 241.8 to 225.5 kilometres. The Dauphiné in late June at temperature is not a course that invites passivity. What it produced was Romain Grégoire's first French national title and a tricolore jersey that will be on the start line in Barcelona in six days.
The Race
The circuits around La Tour-du-Pin repeated the same critical ramp on each passage — the Béjui climb, a short but properly selective ascent that the field's attacking riders were reading with increasing attention as the kilometres accumulated in the heat.
Decathlon CMA CGM brought numbers and used them: a pair of Decathlon riders took turns launching into the headwinds across the flat sections and on the earlier circuits, testing legs and testing patience. It was the kind of racing that compresses the eventual winning move into a specific narrow window rather than spreading the decision across a long solo breakaway.
That window arrived on the Béjui's final ascent. Approximately 500 metres from the top of the climb, with around three kilometres remaining to the line, Grégoire moved. The Lidl-Trek rider cleared the summit with a gap that the chasers could not close on the descent and the short flat run-in to the line. He came across alone.
Paul Lapeira — one of those Decathlon riders who had animated the race all afternoon — took second. Joris Delbove (TotalEnergies) finished third.
Grégoire and the Tricolore
The French national road championship title means a tricolore jersey for the twelve months that follow, worn in road races — not time trials (Cédrine Kerbaol and Bruno Armirail hold those, from Thursday's time trial results) but in every road stage race the holder enters.
The Tour de France opens July 4 in Barcelona with a team time trial. Grégoire will be in the Lidl-Trek TTT formation wearing the band of blue, white, and red that France's road champion carries. It is one of the most visible jerseys in professional cycling — not ranked by performance the way the GC or sprint leader's jerseys are, but constant and prominent, worn regardless of position or form. A rider wearing the French national champion's jersey at the Tour de France does not blend into the peloton.
"Je rêvais de cette victoire," Grégoire said after the finish. He had been dreaming of this win. At 23, wearing the tricolore to Barcelona makes the dream immediate.
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Sunday's result completes the 2026 French road nationals programme. Thursday produced the time trial titles: Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ) won his third elite men's TT title in four years; Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Cannondale Women) won the elite women's TT. Saturday's women's road race went to Célia Gery, who added the tricolore to a palmarès that already includes Brabantse Pijl, a Giro d'Italia Women stage, and the elite cyclocross national title — at 20 years old.
For complete race reports from the championships, see the men's TT report, the women's road race report, and the Isère and Dauphiné cycling guide for anyone planning a cycling trip in the region where all three races were held.