FRESH AND MYTHICAL
Key points:
The route for the 2026 Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes was unveiled this morning in Lyon in the presence of Regional Council President Fabrice Pannekoucke, his predecessor Laurent Wauquiez, and Tour de France Director Christian Prudhomme, who paid tribute to Thierry Cazeneuve with a minute of silence. The nephew of Georges Cazeneuve, creator of the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, and himself director of the event from 1988 to 2009, passed away on January 17 at the age of 74.
From Vizille to the Plateau de Solaison, the route of the 78th edition, scheduled for June 7-14, explores iconic locations of the Critérium du Dauphiné and offers new challenges.
Many riders can shine over the 1 200 km of racing, with stages for breakaway riders and sprinters, a team time trial, and a grand mountain finale.
The day after Grand Colombier, winners will be crowned on the Plateau de Solaison, where Jonas Vingegaard triumphed in 2022.
The first Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the new name of the Critérium du Dauphiné, will explore the roads of its host region over some 1 200 km of racing between Vizille, home to the start on Sunday 7 June 2026, and the Plateau de Solaison, where the winners will be crowned a week later. The variety of terrain and profiles promises an exciting race over the eight stages, starting strong from Isère and finishing with a big mountain showdown over summits of the Ain and Savoy.
Between Vizille, associated with the memory of Thierry Claveyrolat, and Saint-Ismier, where Bernard Thévenet lives, the first stage will pay tribute to two icons of French cycling. The gradients of the Côte de Saint-Jean-le-Vieux (5.6 km at 8.7%) will be the final springboard for the first yellow and blue jersey, before tackling a marathon stage towards Le Puy-en-Velay (237.3 km). Again, two climbs in the finale will shake up the peloton. The sprinters will then try to control the race to battle it out in Montrond-les-Bains (stage 4) and at the Parc des Oiseaux in Villars-les-Dombes (stage 5), ten years after Mark Cavendish’s victory at the same location, his 30th win in the Tour de France.
The Grande Boucle will be particularly present in the minds during the third stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes: in Perreux, a 28.4 km team time trial will serve as a dress rehearsal before the Grand Départ in Barcelona, with the format tested in Paris-Nice (the event is raced by teams, but the times are individual). The battle for the overall classification will then be underway, en route to three summit finishes on the 6th, 7th and 8th days of the race.
The riders will first face a series of climbs at Saint-Héry d’Ugine (11.3 km at 5.1%) and Crest-Voland (5.9 km at 7.7%, a new ascent). After a nod to the Classique des Alpes Juniors with a start in La Bridoire, they will battle it out on the climb up the Grand Colombier, via the gruelling Virieu-le-Petit slope (8.4 km at 10.2%). Finally, the last Sunday promises a grand finale in the form of a rollercoaster ride with Col du Pré (6.9 km at 10.1%), Montée de Bisanne (11.4 km at 7.7%), Col des Aravis (7 km at 6.8%) and the finish at Plateau de Solaison (11.3 km at 9.1%). It is on these same steep slopes that, a little over a month later, the 15th stage of the Tour de France will come to an end, concluding a weekend of high intensity.
