Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 2026 Stage 7 Preview | Grand Colombier set to terrify the peloton

After everything we saw on Friday in the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, expectations are even higher for Saturday’s stage. A total of 3,800 metres of climbing packed into barely 134 kilometres: those are numbers that should make even viewers at home feel the nerves. IDL Procycling looks ahead to the seventh stage of the French race!

The sixth stage of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes was already tough, but stage seven is where the real hammering begins. It starts in La Bridoire, and from the start location the road immediately rises towards the Col du Banchet, a climb of 5.1 kilometres at 5.9 percent. The Col de la Crusille follows straight after that, with 2.9 kilometres at 4.2 percent, meaning the riders already face two climbs inside the opening 13 kilometres.

After the descent, the road kicks up again towards the Côte de Saint-Maurice-de-Rotherens. That one is 4.9 kilometres long at 7.9 percent, but after the official climb the road keeps rising for almost another three kilometres at around five percent. The riders then descend towards Yenne, before continuing north. An uncategorised hill then takes the race into a valley towards Culoz.

That is a familiar name for both cyclists and tourists, because it is the village at the foot of the feared Grand Colombier. The riders start climbing immediately, but they do not head straight to the summit yet. After 76 kilometres they reach the Lacets du Grand Colombier, a beautiful mountain road that twists its way upwards. After seven kilometres of climbing at 8.4 percent, the riders turn right instead of left towards the top.

The peloton then makes a large loop, gradually moving around to the other side of the enormous lump of a mountain. The riders descend towards Anglefort and reach an intermediate sprint in Chanay. From there, the road gradually rises again towards the Col de Richemond, the penultimate climb of the day. That second-category ascent measures 7.7 kilometres at six percent.

It serves as the warm-up for what is still to come. After the descent, the race reaches Virieu-le-Petit, halfway up the Grand Colombier. From that hamlet onwards, however, it becomes brutally hard. The riders still have 8.5 kilometres of climbing to go, at an average gradient of 10 percent. The first 4.4 kilometres even average 12 percent, with ramps of up to 20 percent! The final three kilometres rise at “only” nine percent, after a day of 133 kilometres and 3,700 metres of climbing.

Climbs
Col du Banchet (5.1 km at 5.9%)
Col de la Crusille (2.9 km at 4.2%)
Côte de Saint-Maurice-de-Rotherens (4.9 km at 7.9%)
Lacets du Grand Colombier (7.1 km at 8.4%)
Col de Richemond (7.7 km at 6%)
Grand Colombier (8.5 km at 10%)

Times
Start: 12:25 PM CET
Finish: around 4:00 PM CET

Just like Friday, it should be a lovely sunny day. At the start in La Bridoire, temperatures are expected to be around 25 degrees Celsius, with a light north-westerly wind. That means a headwind for much of the race. On the final climb, that wind should mostly come from a diagonal tailwind direction, although by then it is expected to have dropped slightly. It will be warm either way, with around 30 degrees at the foot of the climb and well over 20 degrees at the summit.

Friday was still a day for the breakaway, although of course there were some very strong riders in that move. On Saturday, however, we expect the very best climbers to come to the front. Friday already gave us a clear indication of which two riders those might be: Paul Seixas of Decathlon CMA CGM and Isaac del Toro of UAE Team Emirates-XRG. Both also need to make up plenty of time on yellow jersey Luke Tuckwell of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe.

Behind Seixas and Del Toro on Friday, we saw Matteo Jorgenson, Jørgen Nordhagen of Visma | Lease a Bike, Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose of Lidl-Trek finish in a group that also has to be watched closely on Saturday.

We will definitely also be keeping an eye on Tuckwell and his very strong-looking teammate Maxim Van Gils, who may once again try to get involved from the breakaway. If he does, he could find riders such as Valentin Paret-Peintre, Steff Cras of Soudal Quick-Step, Tobias Halland Johannessen of Uno-X and Laurens De Plus of Netcompany INEOS alongside him.

Riders who could play a role in both scenarios include names such as Ramses Debruyne of Alpecin-Premier Tech, Cian Uijtdebroeks of Movistar and Luke Plapp of Jayco AlUla. That said, we do not immediately expect that to be the most likely outcome.

Top favorites: Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Isaac del Toro (UAE Emirates-XRG)
Outsiders: Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike), Juan Ayuso, Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step)
Long shots: Jorgen Nordhagen (Visma | Lease a Bike), Maxim Van Gils, Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X), Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar), Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla), Steff Cras (Soudal Quick-Step), and Laurens De Plus (Netcompany INEOS)

Author: David Bavin-Hobbs - [email protected]