No Vingegaard. No Pogacar: The Dauphiné Could Be This Summer’s Most Exciting Race

Paul Seixas and Isaac del Toro are racing for victory this week, Tour de France dreams next month, and perhaps cycling’s future over the next decade.

The newly rebranded Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes — formerly the Critérium du Dauphiné — has long been cycling’s most reliable Tour de France crystal ball.

This year’s edition (June 7-14) is even more tantalizing as it delivers a front-row seat to cycling’s future.

Neither Tadej Pogačar nor Jonas Vingegaard will be hogging the podiums. The Dane is recovering after winning the Giro d’Italia and UAE kingpin is cooling his jets for the Tour de Suisse.

Their absence leaves a rare opening for every budding GC rider in the peloton.

And it could make the former Dauphiné this summer’s most exciting race.

Taking center stage are two of cycling’s most talked-about young talents: Seixas of Decathlon CMA CGM and Del Toro of UAE Emirates-XRG.

Both will make their Tour de France debuts next month. Both have generated extraordinary hype.

And for the first time, they will face off in the French Alps, on the same brutal climbs where Tour de France dreams are made and broken.

Seixas: ‘Aiming for victory’

The Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes — contested in eight stages across the French Alps — has always mattered because it reveals both cycling’s present and the future.

With the peloton’s Tour kings sitting this one out, the spotlight shifts away from the sport’s reigning giants and onto the riders who could shape cycling’s next era.

Seixas comes with confidence and a strong team, including American climber Matthew Riccitello.

“I’m approaching this race with high ambitions after three weeks of altitude training,” he said. “I’m aiming for victory and to further refine the strategies we’ve developed since the beginning of the year with the whole team in preparation for the Tour de France.”

Yet neither Seixas nor Del Toro arrives carrying the same narrative from six months ago.

The French teenager has spent the 2026 season blowing away expectations — from challenging Pogačar directly at Strade Bianche and Liège-Bastogne-Liège to winning the Itzulia Basque Country.

Can he do it again across eight stages over the French Alps?

Del Toro back in the saddle

Standing in his way is Del Toro, whose season was derailed by a stage 3 crash at the Itzulia Basque Country that left him with a thigh muscle tear, hip contusions, and road rash. The Mexican has not raced since.

While Del Toro recovered, Seixas was smashing KOMs across Spain and France.

The Mexican vows to come out swinging.

“The level of racing will be high, no doubt, as a lot of the peloton are preparing for the Tour, but I think we are ready. It’s been a while now since my last race and I’m excited to pin a race number on again,” Del Toro said.

Del Toro will want to take full advantage of racing without his boss in the bunch.

“I’m excited for the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It’s my first time at the race and I hope it will be the start of a beautiful summer of racing in France for me,” he said. “Training has been going well, and things are going in the right direction.”

UAE is also bringing João Almeida as a protected GC option, reducing the pressure on Del Toro as he returns from nearly two months away from racing.

If Almeida is racing for GC, Del Toro may hold back early and go all-in for stages in the closing weekend and set up the Seixas showdown everyone wants to see.

Where the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes will be won

Of course, Seixas and Del Toro are not the only two racing in France.

Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek), Kévin Vauquelin and Oscar Onley (Netcompany-Ineos), and Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar) headline the loaded start list.

Jorgenson, a Dauphiné runner-up in 2024, and Ayuso both return from injury, eager to remind the peloton they belong in this conversation too.

“It’s not going to be an easy race. There is some tough competition, so I’m sure it will be an exciting race for people to watch. I hope to be a key animator for the GC battle,” Ayuso said. “My 2026 season has been a mix, as I got some good results and then suffered because of crashes and illnesses. These couple of months without racing have given me the opportunity to really reset.”

This is cycling’s next wave assembled in one place, many of them racing not only for victory but for their own position in the sport’s reshuffled hierarchy.

The eight-stage course starting Sunday in Vizille is an ideal testing ground. The first real selection will come in Tuesday’s 28.4km team time trial around Perreux before the race turns decisively toward the mountains.

Three summit finishes on the final weekend, including the Grand Colombier and Plateau de Solaison, will offer a clear indication of where everyone stands ahead of the Tour de France.

Here’s how to watch it happen.

GC wide open in the French Alps

This could be one of the most fun and exciting stage races of the season.

With neither Pogačar nor Vingegaard to snuff out the drama, the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is suddenly up for grabs. Remco Evenepoel is also staying away, opting for a radical race-free approach to July.

For riders like Del Toro, Seixas, Jorgenson, Ayuso, and a handful of others, opportunities like this do not come around often.

The winner atop the Plateau de Solaison next weekend won’t just claim the biggest victory of their season, they’ll also seize the momentum heading into the Tour de France.

That’s part of what makes this year’s new-look Dauphiné so fascinating.

The Tour de France ultimately crowns cycling’s champions.

The Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes may tell us who is next in line.

2026 Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes stages

Stage 1: Mountain, June 7 — Vizille to Saint-Ismier, 146.2km

Stage 2: Hilly, June 8 — Saint-Martin-Le-Vinoux to Le Puy-en-Velay, 234.3km

Stage 3: Team Time Trial, June 9 — Perreux to Perreux, 28.4km

Stage 4: Hilly, June 10 — Le Puy-en-Velay to Montrond-les-Bains, 167.4km

Stage 5: Hilly, June 11 — Saint-Chamond to Villars-les-Dombes, 195.8km

Stage 6: Mountain, June 12 — Saint-Vulbas to Crest-Voland, 182.3km

Stage 7: Mountain, June 13 — La Bridoire to Grand Colombier, 133.6km

Stage 8: Mountain, June 14 — Beaufort to Plateau de Solaison, 120.1km