diff --git a/include/pybind11/detail/common.h b/include/pybind11/detail/common.h
index 5dcd348f..4a75c21e 100644
--- a/include/pybind11/detail/common.h
+++ b/include/pybind11/detail/common.h
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 
 #define PYBIND11_VERSION_MAJOR 2
 #define PYBIND11_VERSION_MINOR 6
-#define PYBIND11_VERSION_PATCH 0b1
+#define PYBIND11_VERSION_PATCH 0rc1
 
 #define PYBIND11_NAMESPACE_BEGIN(name) namespace name {
 #define PYBIND11_NAMESPACE_END(name) }
diff --git a/pybind11/_version.py b/pybind11/_version.py
index 4413ff10..3a17071f 100644
--- a/pybind11/_version.py
+++ b/pybind11/_version.py
@@ -8,5 +8,5 @@ def _to_int(s):
         return s
 
 
-__version__ = "2.6.0b1"
+__version__ = "2.6.0rc1"
 version_info = tuple(_to_int(s) for s in __version__.split("."))