News

The Critérium du Dauphiné is one of the main preparatory races for the Tour de France, and many teams take the opportunity to lubricate the line-ups that will be on the French roads within a month. However, it is a highly prestigious race in the world of cycling, as evidenced by a winners list containing great champions such as Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault or Miguel Indurain, so many riders dispute the race as their main goal.

Route

The route presents 8 stages of increasing difficulty: two hilly stages, a flat stage with a top hill finish, a 16 km individual time trial and a half-mountain stage will take the riders to the final three stages, typically alpine, where some classic climbs such as Col de Porte, Cormet de Roseland or la Colombière will decide the race.

Favorites

Neither of the two great favorites for the Tour de France (Slovenians Tadej Pogačar (1200) and Primož Roglič (1200)) will take the start, so the main candidates for the general classification will be the Ineos Greandiers men, Geraint Thomas (800), Tao Geoghegan Hart (800) and Richie Porte (800).

Movistar’s line-up also includes the three Tour de France team leaders Alejandro Valverde (1000), Enric Mas (1000) and Miguel Ángel López (1000).

With the absence of Pogačar, Brandon McNulty (800) will lead the UAE Team Emirates, while Jonas Vingegaard (600), Sepp Kuss (600) and Steven Kruijswijk (600) will compete among themselves to be the second bullet of the team Jumbo-Visma in the Tour behind Roglič.

David Gaudu (800), Guillaume Martin (800), Nairo Quintana (1000), Michael Woods (600), Jakob Fuglsang (1000), Wilco Kelderman (800) or Patrick Konrad (600) are some alternative candidates for the general classification.