Budding French star Paul Seixas said on Wednesday he is aiming to win the main preparation race ahead of July's Tour de France.
With Tour favourites Tadej Pogacar, who will go to the Tour de Suisse instead, and Jonas Vingegaard, who is tackling the Giro d'Italia this month, skipping the Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, teenage prodigy Seixas will likely start as the favourite.
But he will face stiff competition from the likes of Mexican Isaac del Toro, who won the UAE Tour and Tirreno-Adriatico earlier this year, and Spaniard Juan Ayuso, who beat the Frenchman into second place at the Tour of the Algarve in February.
"Depending on my form and the competition, I will be aiming to go for the victory," Seixas said at a press conference for selective media at his Decathlon CMA CGM team's performance centre near the Alpine town of Chambery in southeastern France.
"I certainly won't be in Tour de France form because that's not the aim, but I imagine that will also be the case for the other riders there," added Seixas of the June 7-14 stage race.
The 19-year-old has been in sensational form this season, finishing either first or second in all six of his races.
He won the Tour of the Basque Country last month, having also tasted success in one-day races, the Ardeche Classic and Fleche Wallonne.
Other than finishing narrowly behind Ayuso in his opening race of the season, he was beaten only by world champion Pogacar at Strade Bianche in March and Liege-Bastogne-Liege 10 days ago.
TOUR RECON
Before taking part in his first Grand Tour in July – where the expectation around him will reach fever pitch as France pins its hopes on his young shoulders to end the 41-year wait for a home winner at the Grand Boucle – he will use his time to ride the route of Tour stages and take part in altitude training.
The Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, in which he finished an impressive eighth last year when it was still known as the Criterium du Dauphine, will be his only race before the Tour.
On Thursday he is due to ride the route of the Tour's 16th stage time-trial between Thonon-les-Bains and Evian-les-Bains, "not far from my grandparents", he said.
He had announced on Monday his participation at the July 4-26 Tour with a social media video of him breaking the news first to his grandparents.
In Ayuso and Del Toro, as well as Briton Oscar Onley, who was fourth at last year's Tour, Seixas will face at the warm-up event some of the brightest young climbers in cycling who may be his main rivals in the years to come.
Ayuso was a teenage star himself when he finished third at his home Grand Tour, the Vuelta a Espana in 2022.
His form since then has been mixed, finishing fourth at the Vuelta the following year but failing to finish the 2024 Tour and the 2025 Giro.
Del Toro won an incredible 18 races in his breakout 2025 season when he looked all set to win the Giro until British veteran Simon Yates snatched the pink jersey from his grasp on the penultimate stage.