This page contains the stage podium, the race story, GC implications after the stage, and per-rider performance. Read no further if you intend to watch this stage unspoiled.
Alex Baudin (EF Education–EasyPost) survived from a big early breakaway to win solo from the reduced front group on the hilly Saint-Ismier finish, taking the first yellow jersey of the rebranded race.
The opening kilometres were frenetic before a ten-rider breakaway settled, featuring Alex Baudin, Sergio Samitier, Georg Zimmermann, Clément Braz Afonso, Raúl García Pierna and others; they led the peloton by around 50 seconds over the Col de l'Arzelier. Samitier and Braz Afonso traded the early KOM points across the Côte de Seyssins and the Côte de Quaix-en-Chartreuse. Over the Col de Vence only Baudin, George Bennett and Braz Afonso remained out front. The peloton clawed the gap back to roughly 34 seconds late on, but never closed it on the hilly run-in to Saint-Ismier. Baudin held off the chase to win solo, with Ramses Debruyne and Léo Bisiaux leading the bunch in 32 seconds down.
Alex Baudin leads the GC after stage 1. Debruyne and Bisiaux sit second and third at +0:32, with the main favourites — Onley, Tuckwell, Vauquelin — also at +0:32 in the front group. Del Toro and Ayuso lost a little more time on the day, setting up a week where the punchy and mountain stages would reshuffle everything.
Baudin played the breakaway perfectly, getting into the day's move and outlasting his fellow escapees on the closing hills. Reaching Saint-Ismier alone gave him both the stage and the first yellow jersey — a result he would defend deep into the week.
Bisiaux sprinted to third out of the front group at 32 seconds, a strong opening for the young Decathlon climber-puncheur supporting Paul Seixas's GC bid.
Onley came home safely in the front group at +0:32, keeping his GC options open without expending energy on the opening day.