Today in Vizille all eyes will be on Paul Seixas at the start of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the prestigious French stage race that until last year was known as the Critérium du Dauphiné. The young French talent arrives at the start as one of the main favorites with the objective of continuing his growth trajectory ahead of his Tour de France debut.

On the eve of the race, Seixas showed great clarity in defining his priorities. Rather than focusing exclusively on the final result, the Frenchman wants to verify the progress he has made in managing efforts and recovery between stages, aspects that are fundamental with the Grande Boucle in mind.

"Am I the favorite? I don't know, but I'm certainly among the favorites," he explained. "There will be riders of the highest level at the start. It's one of the most important stage races of the season and it has special meaning for me because it takes place on the roads of my region. I often train here when I visit my parents and it's always a pleasure to race on these roads".

After finishing eighth on his debut in last year's edition, Seixas is aiming above all to take another step forward in his athletic maturation. "Last year I finished the race completely exhausted. This year I want to understand how much my ability to recover day after day has improved. In such a demanding race this aspect will be decisive".

The media attention that will accompany the race represents another important test. The Frenchman knows well that the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes will be a sort of preview of what awaits him at the Tour de France.

"I was told that this race would be a taste of the Tour from a media perspective. I still can't imagine what it means to live three weeks at the Tour, but everyone tells me I'll be surprised. I'm preparing myself mentally and it doesn't weigh on me at all: it's part of the job and represents an opportunity to learn outside the bike as well".

Coming off an important altitude training camp, Seixas arrives at the start confident in his condition. "The work done has been managed very well by the team. After the training camp I had a lighter week and I believe I'm arriving at the race with good freshness. I'm not thinking only about the final victory. What really interests me is understanding how much I've improved in terms of recovery and managing such a demanding stage race".

In the race he will also face high-level rivals like Juan Ayuso and Isaac Del Toro, whom he has already faced in recent months. However, Seixas prefers not to make calculations. "It's nice to face riders with whom there is sporting rivalry, but every race starts from zero. This is the aspect I love about competition. There will be many riders capable of fighting for the top positions and I believe we will see a very open race".

From today the road will give the first answers. But one thing is certain: Paul Seixas will be the most anticipated man of the 2026 Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.

THE STARTERS

UAE Team Emirates - XRG
1. DEL TORO Isaac
2. ALMEIDA Joao
3. COSNEFROY Benoit
4. OLIVEIRA Ivo
5. SIVAKOV Pavel
6. TORRES Pablo
7. VERMAERKE Kevin

Team Visma | Lease a Bike
11. JORGENSON Matteo
12. AFFINI Edoardo
13. ARMIRAIL Bruno
14. HAGENES Per Strand
15. NORDHAGEN Jorgen
16. TULETT Ben
17. VAN AERT Wout

Lidl - Trek
21. AYUSO Juan
22. BERNARD Julien
23. KAMNA Lennard
24. SIMMONS Quinn
25. SKJELMOSE Mattias
26. SKUJINS Toms
27. VERONA Carlos

Netcompany INEOS
31. ONLEY Oscar
32. DE PLUS Laurens
33. GODON Dorian
34. RODRIGUEZ Carlos
35. TARLING Joshua
36. VAUQUELIN Kevin
37. WATSON Samuel

Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe
41. MARTINEZ Daniel Felipe
42. ETXEBERRIA Haimar
43. FISHER-BLACK Finn
44. THORNLEY Callum
45. TUCKWELL Luke
46. VAN GILS Maxim
47. VERMEERSCH Gianni

Decathlon CMA CGM Team
51. SEIXAS Paul
52. BISIAUX Leo
53. BISSEGGER Stefan
54. HOOLE Daan
55. PARET-PEINTRE Aurelien
56. PRODHOMME Nicolas
57. RICCITELLO Matthew

Uno-X Mobility
61. JOHANNESSEN Tobias Halland
62. URIANSTAD BUGGE Martin
63. CHARMIG Anthon
64. JOHANNESSEN Anders Halland
65. KRON Andreas
66. SKAARSETH Anders
67. TRAEEN Torstein

EF Education - EasyPost
71. HEALY Ben
72. BAUDIN Alex
73. LEONARD Michael
74. MACKELLAR Alastair
75. QUINN Sean
76. STEINHAUSER Georg
77. WALKER Max

Soudal Quick-Step
81. PARET-PEINTRE Valentin
82. CRAS Steff
83. EENKHOORN Pascal
84. HAYTER Ethan
85. REINDERINK Pepijn
86. SVRCEK Martin
87. VANSEVENANT Mauri

XDS Astana Team
91. TEJADA Harold
92. CONCI Nicola
93. FORTUNATO Lorenzo
94. KAJAMINI Florian Samuel
95. KUZMIN Anton
96. RODRIGUEZ Cristian
97. VELASCO Simone

Movistar Team
101. UIJTDEBROEKS Cian
102. CASTRILLO Pablo
103. CEPEDA Jefferson Alveiro
104. GARCIA PIERNA Raul
105. HESSMANN Michel
106. PESCADOR Diego
107. ROMEO Ivan

Tudor Pro Cycling Team
111. VOISARD Yannis
112. DONZE Robin
113. ERIKSSON Jacob
114. JASCH Lennart
115. THALMANN Roland
116. TRENTIN Matteo
117. WILKSCH Hannes

Bahrain - Victorious
121. BILBAO Pello
122. ARNDT Nikias
123. BAUHAUS Phil
124. BUITRAGO Santiago
125. GOVEKAR Matevz
126. MOHORIC Matej
127. VAN MECHELEN Vlad

Lotto Intermarché
131. ZIMMERMANN Georg
132. BRAET Vito
133. CRAPS Lars
134. FOX Matthew
135. KOCKELMANN Mathieu
136. VAN SINTMAARTENSDIJK Roel
137. VEISTROFFER Baptiste

TotalEnergies
141. JEGAT Jordan
142. BOUCHARD Geoffrey
143. BREUILLARD Nicolas
144. BURGAUDEAU Mathieu
145. GUERNALEC Thibault
146. LE BERRE Mathis
147. VERCHER Matteo

Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
151. PARRA Jose Felix
152. ARRIOLABENGOA Julen
153. BOU Joan
154. CASTELLON Jan
155. DARDER Sergi
156. DIAZ Alex
157. SORARRAIN Gorka

NSN Cycling Team
161. BENNETT George
162. FRIGO Marco
163. GILMORE Brady
164. HOFSTETTER Hugo
165. MARTI Pau
166. RAISBERG Nadav
167. TENE Rotem

Team Jayco AlUla
171. PLAPP Luke
172. COVI Alessandro
173. DURBRIDGE Luke
174. ENGELHARDT Felix
175. MATTHEWS Michael
176. MCKENZIE Hamish
177. SUTTERLIN Jasha

Cofidis
181. COQUARD Bryan
182. BUCHMANN Emanuel
183. FERRON Valentin
184. MAISONOBE Sam
185. ROULAND Louis
186. SAMITIER Sergio
187. THOMAS Benjamin

Groupama - FDJ United
191. BERTHET Clement
192. BRAZ AFONSO Clement
193. DECOMBLE Maxime
194. GENIETS Kevin
195. MARTIN Guillaume
196. MOLARD Rudy
197. PACHER Quentin

Alpecin - Premier Tech
201. UHLIG Henri
202. BELMANS Lennert
203. DEBRUYNE Ramses
204. GLIVAR Gal
205. GOGL Michael
206. HOULE Hugo
207. REMIJN Senna

Team Picnic PostNL
211. LEEMREIZE Gijs
212. CORKERY Dillon
213. DHONDT Robbe
214. FAURE PROST Alexy
215. KNOX James
216. MARTINEZ Juan Guillermo
217. RENARD-HAQUIN Henri-Francois