The Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the race formerly known as the Critérium du Dauphiné, runs June 7–14 and looks increasingly likely to bring two unreleased race bikes into public view. After weeks of leaked images and deleted social media posts, both a new Specialized Tarmac SL9 and a new Van Rysel road bike appear to be in active team testing ahead of the Tour de France.
The renamed race retains its familiar role as the key Tour warm-up, and this year's route includes a 28.4km team time trial in Perreux on stage 3, a format where teams ride together against the clock and aero equipment choices become especially visible.
Specialized Tarmac SL9
The Specialized leak trail is the more developed of the two. We reported on the initial leaks initially on May 12, and more recently BikeRadar reported on May 29 that an Instagram image from a Red Bull–Bora–hansgrohe training camp appeared to confirm the presence of a new Tarmac SL9 on top of a team car. The image, since deleted, showed a bike with a noticeably flaring fork crown and fork blades set further forward than on the current Tarmac SL8.
That sighting followed an earlier leak cycle. On May 23, cyclist Artem Shcherbyna posted an Instagram reel showing Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull–Bora–hansgrohe) in footage apparently taken in the Sierra Nevada region of Spain. Earlier still, side-profile renders appeared on May 12, sparking initial debate over whether the images were AI-generated, though subsequent leaks across forums and social media increased confidence they were genuine.
The overall design appears to showcase an incremental evolution of Specialized's all-rounder race platform, with some aerodynamic tweaks at the rear end – which I personally found reminiscent of the previous Venge VIAS platform. The clearest changes appear concentrated around the fork, rear seatstays and a deeper seatpost. A Weight Weenies forum post from February 2026, citing an unnamed Specialized employee, described the SL9 as "a slightly aero optimized SL8" and said the introduction would come "around the tour."
Launches at the Tour are not unusual, but we would wager that the Dauphine will be the likely first testbed to give the bike a WorldTour-tier race rehearsal ahead of the world's biggest bike race.
Five Specialized-sponsored WorldTour teams could receive the SL9: Soudal–Quick Step, AG Insurance–Soudal, Red Bull–Bora–hansgrohe, FDJ United–Suez and SD Worx–Protime.
Van Rysel
Evidence around Van Rysel is thinner. The French brand, backed by Decathlon, unveiled its FTP² concept bike at Velofollies in January 2026, describing it as a "rolling laboratory, unconstrained by current industrial standards."
Since then, leaks have circulated showing what appears to be unreleased Van Rysel race hardware in use.
Decathlon CMA CGM Team rider Paul Seixas was seen training in Sierra Nevada ahead of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and his Tour de France debut. The bike was first seen in a fleeting Instagram story captured by aggregator account T0pBike, whose account since appears to have been deleted.
The images were captured and recirculated Cyclism'Actu's YouTube channel, where we captured the screenshot below.
The glimpses so far of the unreleased race bike hint at a more refined version of the RCR-R, perhaps geared more to climbing uses, rather than anything echoing the more dramatic aero ambitions of the FTP².
If either brand keeps its new hardware hidden at the the Dauphine, the Tour de Suisse (June 17–21) and then the Tour de France itself remain the next public checkpoints.
Cover image credit: Twila Federica Muzzi / Red Bull Content Pool
