The Critérium du Dauphiné has a new name and an identical purpose.
The Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes — the rebranded version of what has been cycling's primary Tour de France rehearsal race since 1947 — opens Stage 1 today in Vizille, at the southern edge of the Grenoble metropolitan area, with a profile that the old race would rarely have permitted its opening day: five categorised climbs, 3,000 metres of ascent, and a final climb that averages 8.7% over 5.6 kilometres into Saint-Ismier. This stage can produce general classification time gaps on Day 1. The organisers know it. The field knows it. The teams who arrived without their climbers fully turned over will know it by this evening.
The Stage
Vizille is at the confluence of the Romanche and Bonne rivers, 20 kilometres south of Grenoble, in the approach corridor to the Romanche valley and the Oisans. Stage 1 leaves the city heading west and southwest into the Chartreuse massif — the limestone plateau that sits between Grenoble and Chambéry, accessed by roads that use every hairpin available.
The Col de l'Arzelier (Cat 2, 8.6km at 5.7%) opens the climbs — long and steady, the kind of ascent that removes the riders who have been hiding their condition in the opening kilometres without generating explosive differences at the front of the race. After the Arzelier, the Côte de Seyssins (Cat 3, 2.6km at 6%) and the Côte de Quaix-en-Chartreuse (Cat 2, 2.3km at 9.2%) arrive in the stage's mid-section — the Quaix, at 9.2%, is the day's steepest average gradient, short enough to detonate a response but long enough to hurt the riders who respond incorrectly. The Col de Vence (Cat 2, 5.1km at 6%) follows.
The Côte de Saint-Jean-le-Vieux closes Stage 1: 5.6 kilometres at 8.7% average, the day's final categorised difficulty, with Saint-Ismier waiting at the finish. The finish in Saint-Ismier is the decisive moment — whatever gaps the earlier climbs have opened, the final test is here.
The Field: Tour de France in Miniature
The Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes startlist is built around the riders who will decide this July's Tour de France. Assembled four weeks early, on home roads, at near-peak condition.
Paul Seixas (Decathlon-CMA CGM) is the race favourite and the most anticipated Tour de France debutant in the French press. The climber rides a profile — explosive on short-to-medium climbs above 7%, able to sustain — that Stage 1 was built to showcase. He is on home roads, has prepared specifically for the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes as his pre-Tour calibration, and Decathlon-CMA CGM has a team roster built to protect him through the early stages. If the race goes hard from the Quaix-en-Chartreuse, Seixas will be in the front group.
Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) leads UAE in the absence of Pogacar, making his own Tour de France debut this summer. The young Mexican is riding his first full WorldTour season in 2026, and the Dauphiné/Auvergne has historically been the race where future Tour contenders announce themselves. João Almeida provides UAE the experienced GC depth that Del Toro's debut season doesn't yet include by default.
Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) represent a dual-leadership structure that has created results and friction in previous stage races. Both are climbers of quality. The stage's multiple climbs, spaced to produce repeated explosive efforts rather than a single prolonged test, suit both of them better than a long mountain stage would.
Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) rides his first road race since Paris-Roubaix earlier in the spring — a Paris-Roubaix he won. Van Aert's role in the Tour de France is not yet publicly settled within Visma's roster, but the Auvergne is where his Tour preparation becomes concrete. He arrives with months of race absence and a stage profile that will settle the question immediately.
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Join ZealZagFollow us on InstagramWhy This Race Matters
Three of the last six Tour de France winners prepared specifically at the Critérium du Dauphiné (as it was called) in the weeks before their July victory. The race is not a predictor so much as a revealer — it exposes which riders are Tour-ready in early June, when form is not always visible from training data alone. A rider who cannot manage Stage 1's five climbs today will have four weeks to repair it. A rider who dominates today has a narrower window before the Tour expects the same.
For Stage 1's route, the Chartreuse roads and the broader Grenoble cycling territory that this race traces all week, see our Grenoble and Dauphiné cycling destination guide.
