Alex Baudin won the opening stage of the 2026 Tour Auvergne – Rhône-Alpes with a superb solo ride from the breakaway, holding off the chasing favourites on the uphill finish in Saint-Ismier. The EF Education-EasyPost rider attacked on the final climb, the Côte de Rousset, and carried enough of a gap over the descent and final drag to take the biggest win of his career.
Ramses Debruyne led home the chase group 32 seconds later, with Léo Bisiaux third for Decathlon CMA CGM. Kevin Vermaerke, Rudy Molard, Ben Tulett, Luke Plapp, Luke Tuckwell, Kevin Vauquelin and Oscar Onley completed the top 10, all on the same time as Debruyne. Baudin also took the first yellow jersey of the race after finishing the 146.2-kilometre stage from Vizille in 3:43:58.
This was not a gentle opening day. The route carried more than 3,000 metres of climbing, with the Col de l’Arzelier, Côte de Seyssins, Côte de Quaix en Chartreuse, Col de Vence and Côte de Rousset giving the stage the feel of a proper mountain test rather than a simple first-day sorting exercise. The Côte de Rousset, 8.2 kilometres at 7.6 per cent, was the decisive point, and Baudin used it perfectly.
Breakaway battle starts early
The stage rolled out from Vizille with no shortage of aggression. The first attacks came almost immediately, with Benjamin Thomas among those trying to force the early shape of the race. Nothing settled quickly, and the opening kilometres became a proper fight for the break rather than a simple move being allowed away.
A series of attacks eventually formed the race’s early breakaway. The composition shifted as riders bridged, dropped and rejoined, but the move included Clément Braz Afonso, Matteo Vercher, Alastair MacKellar, Pepijn Reinderink, Georg Zimmermann, Alex Díaz, Nadav Raisberg, Alex Baudin, Sergio Samitier and Raúl García Pierna. George Bennett also managed to get across later as the race entered the first classified climb.
Raisberg took the intermediate sprint at Monestier-de-Clermont ahead of Reinderink and Zimmermann, but the break was never given the kind of freedom that would make the day straightforward. Decathlon CMA CGM, UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Lidl-Trek were among the teams keeping the gap under control before the first major climb.
The Col de l’Arzelier, 8.6 kilometres at 5.7 per cent, immediately made the stage harder. Samitier took the mountain points there ahead of Zimmermann, Vercher and MacKellar, while the peloton crested around 2 minutes down. Behind, there were already signs of difficulty for some big names. João Almeida, Wout van Aert and Matthew Riccitello were distanced on the climb, while Riccitello later abandoned after struggling with illness.
GC teams begin to test the field
The middle section of the stage was shaped by repeated pressure from the GC teams. The break’s advantage sat around 2 minutes, but it was never truly comfortable. Côte de Seyssins came next, 2.6 kilometres at 6 per cent, where Zimmermann took maximum points ahead of Samitier.
After the valley road, the Côte de Quaix en Chartreuse raised the difficulty again. It was only 2.3 kilometres long, but its 9.2 per cent average made it sharp enough to start thinning the break. Samitier pushed clear for the points, with Braz Afonso, Baudin and Bennett following in the KOM order, while the peloton behind was being controlled by Netcompany-INEOS, XDS-Astana, UNO-X Mobility and Tudor at different points.
The Col de Vence then came almost immediately after a short descent. Braz Afonso led over the top ahead of Bennett, Baudin and Vercher, but the break was beginning to lose riders. The peloton was also showing signs of strain, with Benoît Cosnefroy, Pello Bilbao, Daniel Martínez and Tobias Johannessen all put under pressure at different moments.
Decathlon CMA CGM, riding around Paul Seixas, were especially visible. Seixas came into the race as one of the main favourites, and the team were keen to keep the opening stage under control rather than allow a dangerous rider to disappear too far up the road.
Baudin attacks on the Côte de Rousset
The leading group reached the final climb with only just over a minute in hand. The Côte de Rousset was the obvious launch pad, with its 8.2 kilometres at 7.6 per cent coming close enough to the finish to tempt both the breakaway and the GC contenders.
Baudin did not wait. He attacked from the break with 7.5 kilometres still to climb and immediately distanced Bennett and Braz Afonso. It was the decisive move of the day because the Frenchman did not just open a gap, he kept building it while the chase behind became fragmented.
Kevin Vermaerke tried to turn the stage around from the peloton. The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider attacked, bridged to Bennett and quickly left him behind, but Baudin continued to ride strongly ahead. In the peloton, Decathlon CMA CGM, Team Visma | Lease a Bike, Cofidis and Groupama-FDJ United all had spells near the front, but nobody committed hard enough to bring the EF rider back.
Baudin crested the Côte de Rousset first, taking 10 mountain points. Vermaerke crossed second, with Isaac del Toro, Bisiaux, Seixas and Juan Ayuso taking the remaining points from the front of the favourites’ group. By then, Baudin had a real chance to finish the job.
Favourites hesitate as Baudin holds on
The descent and final approach to Saint-Ismier became a test of Baudin’s ability to hold his effort against a chasing field full of GC contenders. With 17 kilometres to go, he still had more than a minute on the peloton. With 13 kilometres remaining, he had 1:06 on Vermaerke and 1:20 on the GC group. The situation was becoming increasingly realistic for the breakaway.
Vermaerke was eventually caught, and Decathlon CMA CGM began pushing harder behind. The gap to Baudin was still 1:14 with 10 kilometres left, which left the favourites needing both commitment and cooperation. Instead, the chase became stop-start.
There were repeated attacks from behind. Matteo Jorgenson went with Anders Johannessen and Harold Tejada. Mattias Skjelmose, Maxime Decomble and Bisiaux tried. Rudy Molard, Bruno Armirail, Sean Quinn and Lennard Kämna also moved. Then a stronger group formed with Vauquelin, Onley, Vermaerke, Plapp, Debruyne, Molard, Tulett, Tuckwell and Bisiaux.
That group would go on to decide the minor places, but it was too late to catch Baudin. Ayuso and Seixas attacked in the final kilometre, but they had left it too late and lost time to the Onley-Vauquelin group ahead.
Baudin takes yellow and the early jerseys
Baudin came into the final 500 metres still clear, climbing towards the finish with the stage already within reach. He crossed the line alone in Saint-Ismier, arms raised, giving EF Education-EasyPost a major result and taking the first yellow jersey of the newly renamed Tour Auvergne – Rhône-Alpes.
It was an especially meaningful win for Baudin, who was racing close to home and had already promised before the stage that EF Education-EasyPost would race aggressively. The team did exactly that, and Baudin turned the day’s early ambition into a stage win rather than just a presence in the break.
The result also gave him control of the early classifications. Baudin took yellow and led the points, mountains and young rider standings, though he can only wear one jersey. Debruyne is set to wear green on stage 2, Samitier the polka dot jersey, and Bisiaux the white jersey.
For the GC favourites, the day was more complicated. Some survived cleanly, others lost small but useful chunks of time, and several were put under pressure far earlier than they might have expected. The opening stage did not decide the Tour Auvergne – Rhône-Alpes, but it immediately removed any idea that the race would ease into itself.
Baudin earned the headline by finishing off the breakaway, but the stage had already done plenty of damage behind him. The climbs exposed weak legs, the final ascent encouraged attacks, and the hesitation among the favourites gave a committed breakaway rider exactly the chance he needed.
Tour Auvergne – Rhône-Alpes 2026 stage 1 result
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Main photo credit: Getty
