It’s a bit of a mouthful, but for the 2026 edition the race formerly called the Critérium du Dauphiné becomes the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Why? Well, get ready for a geography lesson.
Over the years, the Critérium du Dauphiné had been the classic warm-up race for contenders in the Tour de France, starting less than a month later. The Tour de Suisse is another popular pre-Tour leg-stretcher, and where Tadej Pogačar, winner of the 2025 Dauphiné, will line-up this June.
But despite its name, the Critérium du Dauphiné had long since spread beyond the historic Dauphiné province around Grenoble, with the modern race now traversing a much larger part of south-eastern France.
Even the name Critérium du Dauphiné was a fairly recent construction, with the race established by the…
Published on: 2026-06-04 15:30:00
