Warming up for Tour de France
Traditionally, the two preparatory races for Tour de France are Critérium du Dauphiné and Tour de Suisse, but this year everyone is expected in Dauphiné, as Tour de Suisse has been suspended due to the COVID-19 crisis. In turn, Critérium du Dauphiné has also been afected by the global pandemic and has seen its route cut from 7 to 5 stages.
As we are used to, Dauphiné transits through an alpine terrain and will pass, also in this edition, through some of the emblematic Tour de France mountains, such as Col de la Madelaine or Col de la Colombière. All five stages end uphill, so sprinters are more than likely not a good choise for our Cycling Fantasy team.
The maximum favorite in the General Classification battle is current Tour de France champion Egan Bernal (1200), who will be surrounded by a very powerful team, with Chris Froome (800), Geraint Thomas (1200) and Pavel Sivakov (600). However, Ineos will find strong competition in the Jumbo-Visma men Primož Roglič (1200), Tom Dumoulin (1200) and Steven Kruijswijk (1200). With the signing of Dumoulin, the Dutch team is postulated as an alternative to the Ineos hegemony in the Tour.
In a star-studded startlist, other contenders for GC are Thibaut Pinot (1200), Tadej Pogačar (1000), Nairo Quintana (1200), Romain Bardet (800), Miguel Ángel López (1200), Emanuel Buchmann (1200), Julian Alaphilippe (1200), Dan Martin (1000), Adam Yates (1200), Felix Grossschartner (1200), Richie Porte (1000), Rigoberto Uran (800), Sergio Higuita (800), Mikel Landa (1000) or Movistar riders Alejando Valverde (1200), Marc Soler (800) and Enric Mas (1000).
In short, a starting list with very expensive riders that prepares us for the big decisions that will have to be made for Tour de France. Let's warm up!