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 Dauphiné Libéré regional newspaper in 1947 to promote its circulation, and known by that original name until 2010.
We'd all become very familiar with the Critérium du Dauphiné, though, and there's no doubt that the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is a tongue-twister. So what's behind the name change of one of the most prestigious week-long stage races in cycling?
Cycling's shameless self-promotion
There’s a long history of newspapers and other organisations using bike races to promote themselves. Even the Tour de France was established in 1903 to increase the sales of a newspaper ironically called L’Auto and printed on yellow newsprint, which subsequently lent its colour to the race leader’s jersey.
Meanwhile, the Omloop Nieuwsblad race in Belgium is also named after a newspaper (it dropped the 'Het' from its name this year). It too had previously changed its name, having been called Het Volk from 1947 to 2009, when the Het Volk newspaper, the race's original promoter, ceased publication.
As for the race in question – well, France has seen a series of reorganisations of local and regional governments and, in 2014, the Auvergne and Rhône-Alpes regions, where the action takes place, were merged into one: Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
It's an equivalent administrative level to the Hauts-de-France region that's the title partner of Paris-Roubaix (now known officially as Paris-Roubaix Hauts-de-France) and the Grand Est region, hugging the border with Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany in north-eastern France, which will host the 2028 Tour de France Grand Départ.
So where is Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes?
The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes covers a hefty chunk of central and south-eastern France. It's one of 18 administrative 'regions', which are made up of 101 'departments'.
Much of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is mountainous, and it includes departments in the Massif Central, along the Rhône valley, including France’s second city Lyon, and the high Alps reaching up to the Swiss and Italian borders.
It’s a geographic area that reflects where the modern race takes place, so the new name more accurately represents where the 'Dauphiné' goes.
“It’s a new name that fully reflects the race's regional roots,” said Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme.
The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region is also now one of the race’s major partners, giving that financial backing a front-and-centre position among any new fans tuning in to the race – although we'd wager that it'll be referred to as 'the Dauphiné' by existing fans for some time yet.
Who's riding this year's race?
With Pogačar, who won last year's race by 59 seconds ahead of Jonas Vingegaard, heading to the Tour de Suisse, all eyes will be on Paul Seixas at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
The 19-year-old has enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame and will use the race to fine-tune his prep for the Tour de France, where he's set to become the youngest starter for 89 years.
The Decathlon CMA CGM Team rider has won the Itzulia Basque Country stage race, Faun-Ardèche Classic and La Flèche Wallonne this season, and finished second behind Pogačar at Strade Bianche and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
If he wins the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, expect the Seixas hype train to go into express mode ahead of the Tour de France Grand Départ in Barcelona.
