Its a bit of a mouthful, but for the 2026 edition the race formerly called the Critrium du Dauphin becomes the Tour Auvergne-Rhne-Alpes. Why? Well, get ready for a geography lesson. Over the years, the Critrium du Dauphin 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 Pogaar, winner of the 2025 Dauphin, will line-up this June. But despite its name, the Critrium du Dauphin had long since spread beyond the historic Dauphin province around Grenoble, with the modern race now traversing a much larger part of south-eastern France. Even the name Critrium du Dauphin was a fairly recent construction, with the race established by the Dauphin Libr regional newspaper in 1947 to promote its circulation, and known by that original name until 2010. We'd all become very familiar with the Critrium du Dauphin, though, and there's no doubt that the Tour Auvergne-Rhne-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 Regardless of the name, the race takes in some of the most spectacular and challenging terrain in France. Getty Images Theres 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 LAuto and printed on yellow newsprint, which subsequently lent its colour to the race leaders 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. Tadej Pogaar won the 2025 race. Getty Images 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 Rhne-Alpes regions, where the action takes place, were merged into one: Auvergne-Rhne-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 Dpart. So where is Auvergne-Rhne-Alpes? The race takes place across the mountainous Auvergne-Rhne-Alpes region. A.S.O. The Auvergne-Rhne-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-Rhne-Alpes is mountainous, and it includes departments in the Massif Central, along the Rhne valley, including Frances second city Lyon, and the high Alps reaching up to the Swiss and Italian borders. Now you know. Getty Images Its a geographic area that reflects where the modern race takes place, so the new name more accurately represents where the 'Dauphin' goes. Its a new name that fully reflects the race's regional roots, said Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme. The Auvergne-Rhne-Alpes region is also now one of the races 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 Dauphin' by existing fans for some time yet. Who's riding this year's race? Teenage star Paul Seixas has the weight of France building on his young shoulders. With Pogaar, 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-Rhne-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-Ardche Classic and La Flche Wallonne this season, and finished second behind Pogaar at Strade Bianche and Lige-Bastogne-Lige. If he wins the Tour Auvergne-Rhne-Alpes, expect the Seixas hype train to go into express mode ahead of the Tour de France Grand Dpart in Barcelona.

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Mountain biking legend Charlie Cunningham has died at the age of 78 in his native California. He will be remembered as a founding father of the sport. Cunningham suffered a major bike accident in 2015, leaving him with multiple injuries, including head trauma. MTB photographer and frequent BikeRadar and MBUK contributor, Steve Behr, met Cunningham at home in the mid 1990s and saw his workshop. Behr described Cunningham as friendly, quiet and unassuming as he talked him through the innovations he was working on. Tech pioneer The 1988 Cunningham Racer, built by Charlie Cunningham, paved the way for modern mountain bikes, using oversized aluminium tubing in its construction. Jeff Archer/First Flight Bikes An early proponent of using aluminium for bike frames, Cunningham built his first frame in 1977 and experimented with other exotic materials for components, including a magnesium stem. As well as improving the design for hub and bottom bracket bearing systems, Cunningham also helped develop MTB standards such as wider front hubs and zero-dish rear hubs. He is also widely credited with helping to create the original, iconic Specialized Ground Control tyre. Innovations such as these influenced the speed and direction of the progression of MTB technology. Cunningham, Mark Slate, Steve Potts and Lance Wyeth were the co-founders of the Wilderness Trail Bikes (WTB) brand in Marin, California in 1982. Charlie Cunningham, Wilderness Trail Bicycles co-founder and Fairfax, California resident. Pat Reddix Cunningham, and other inventors like him, helped differentiate MTB tech from road bikes and beach cruisers, playing a part in establishing the discipline as technically advanced, as well as distinct in its own right. He was inducted into the Marin Museum of Bicyclings Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 1988.

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Orbeas Oiz cross-country bike has been revamped, with the 2026 version claimed to be stiffer, lighter and better-performing than ever. The geometry has been updated to make the bike more stable at high speed and construction techniques have been optimised, enabling a claimed frame weight of only 1,700g according to Orbea. Orbea is aiming the bike at racers looking for the best weapon to take on the latest generation of XC race courses. On paper, the new Oiz looks to have all the ingredients of a modern XC bike capable of winning a World Cup round. Stiffer frame The New Oiz has a more stealthy shock placement hidden under the winged top tube. Orbea The first Oiz was released in 2005 and over the past 21 years has seen considerable evolution. We saw an Oiz prototype in Nove Mesto at the World Cup XCO, which team rider Simon Andreassen used to finish in 16th place. Orbea says the new version of the Oiz prioritises stiffness after extensive testing. It claims that in a blind test its team riders preferred a stiffer version with more carbon in the layup over a more flexible prototype that was 50g lighter. The new frame has a differently shaped winged top tube and a Powerspine running from the head tube to the bottom bracket (BB) to increase stiffness, while the production methods use more carbon fibres and less resin in the frames construction to reduce excess weight. However, the new frame isnt heavy by any means, with Orbea claiming the new Oiz OMX frame weighs only 1,700g for a medium size, including the shock. That's still 111g heavier than the claimed weight of the latest Specialized Epic 9. This weight has been achieved thanks partly to the aforementioned modification to the carbon layup and a lighter suspension link. Interestingly, the new, lighter-weight link is made of aluminium rather than the carbon of the previous generation. However, with multiple reliefs and clever engineering, the aluminium link is a considerable 30% lighter. The Oiz is available with two levels of carbon construction the top-spec OMR and cheaper OMX, much like Santa Cruz with its C and more expensive CC options. The top-spec material is the OMX carbon frame, which Orbea says is both lighter and stiffer than the cheaper OMR carbon version. Orbea says OMR carbon delivers the same level of strength and structural performance, but will not be as light as the OMX. Geometry updates The new Oiz is nearly two degrees slacker than the previous generation. Orbea XC bikes have become noticeably more aggressive in the past couple of years, including in the geometry department. Orbea has followed this trend, slackening the head angle of the new Oiz, taking the new bike to 66.8 degrees 0.2 degrees slacker than the previous generation. The latest Specialized Epic 9 is much slacker and more progressive than this, though, with its head angle sitting at 66.3 degrees in the high setting and 65.9 degrees in the low setting. Slacker bikes have more stable handling, suiting the latest generation of XC race tracks, which are steeper, rougher and faster than ever before. Reach on the new bike is similar to the outgoing Oiz 425mm for a small, increasing in roughly 25mm increments up to 495mm for the XL bike. The chainstay length has also been reduced, which Orbea says improves responsiveness and acceleration, but with only a 2mm reduction over the previous model, this seems unlikely to make a profound difference to handling. Suspension evolution not revolution The updated rear suspension uses a smaller link, but still provides 120mm of travel using a flex-stay arrangement. Orbea The new Oiz keeps the 120mm front and rear travel of the previous version in line with the majority of modern XC bikes. It also sees a continuation of Orbeas choice of regressive suspension kinematics. Unsurprisingly for an XC bike, Orbea has aimed to make a bike that pedals efficiently, explaining that it chose a shock-actuation ratio that prioritises support in the initial part of the stroke. Orbea says the shock uses a small air can, which creates a progressive air spring to provide support at the end of the stroke. The frame is compatible with up to a 130mm front fork if you want to increase the travel slightly after purchase. The bike uses Orbeas Spinblock to prevent the handlebar clouting the frame in a crash. Custom configurator MyOrbea enables riders to choose their own custom colours and graphics options in an online configurator. Orbea The Oiz is configurable using Orbeas MyOrbea Custom online programme. This enables you to choose custom colours and graphics combinations to make your bike stand out from the stock versions. Pricing and availability Orbea offers eight models, with half of them using its top-spec OMX frame and the cheaper four using the OMR carbon. Orbea There are four OMR builds and four OMX builds to cater for different budgets. The new Oiz is available at Orbea dealers now. Oiz OMX M-Ltd: 9,999 / $12,127 / 10,999 Oiz OMX M-Team Factory: 8,359 / $10,473 / 9,499 Oiz OMX M-Team AXS: 6,599 / $8,268 / 7,499 Oiz OMX M-Pro: 6,399 / $8,048 / 7,299 Oiz OMR M10 AXS: 6,199 / $7,717 / 6,999 Oiz OMR M10: 5,299 / $6,614 / 5,999 Oiz OMR M20: 4,199 / $5,291 / 4,799 Oiz OMR M30: 3,349 / $4,189