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The first of two key warm up races before the Tour de France, the Criterium du Dauphine starts with a difficult prologue, a four kilometre ascension of the Montee de Chery. Join The Roar‘s live coverage of the Criterium du Dauphine from 9:30pm AEST.
A four kilometre prologue is always a nice way for a rider to get themselves into the race, but with the gradient of this parcours being at nearly ten per cent for the entirety, it is not your usual prologue.
The riders will start from the town of Les Gets, which is a ski resort throughout the year, and will climb the fearsome Montee de Cherry, a four kilometre test which averages out at over ten per cent, however, the final kilometre is above 15 per cent. Therefore, this will be a genuine general classification stage.
With many of the general classification contenders not having competed in a race for quite some time, we could see a few surprises in the order at the end of the day. However, these classification contenders are seasoned professionals, and have the ability to be able to time their training to perfection.
They will not be at 100 per cent form, however, they will be fairly close to it. Expect to see some fascinating racing over the next week in the lead-up to the Tour.
So who exactly are the main contenders for both today’s stage, and the general classification come race end?
We have only one former winner in the field, with 2015 and 2013 winner Chris Froome lining up with a Team Sky squad which looks leaps and bounds better than any team at this race in terms of climbing talent. Sky are bringing both Segio Henao (who has recently be cleared of any suspiscion in relation to doping) and Mikel Landa, who left the Giro in it’s early stages.
Also coming to the race for them includes former World Champion Michal Kwiatkowski and Liege Bastionge Liege winner Wout Poels. It is a super strong team, but Froome will be on his own on the opening day.
Former teammate of Froome, Richie Porte, headlines the squad brought by BMC. He was the best week long stage racer last year, but has cooled off on that tag this year, taking a more measured approach to his season. After imploding at the Giro last year, he obviously does not want that to happen again, hence why he has not raced as much this year until this point.
Though, he finished top five at the Volta a Catalunya, while also taking third at Paris Nice.
One rider though has dominated week long stage racing this year, and that is Spaniard Alberto Contador, who in the last week has revealed that he is looking for a new team, after previously stating that this year would be his last.
He certainly has disappointed this year, taking the Tour of the Basque Country general classification in early April, while adding second at the Volta a Catalunya, and second at Paris Nice.
Out of the three contenders mentioned above, Contador has had the longest time off the bike from racing, as his last race was the victory he took at Basque Country, whereas both Froome and Porte lined up for Romandie, three weeks later.
My tip for top Frenchmen today, and the race overall is Thibaut Pinot who has had a very good season so far. We have always known that the lad can climb, and after a few years where his descending was diabolical, he is slowly getting better at that as well.
They key gain for him this season is his time trialing ability, which in the past has been a let down. Even though it is a mountain prologue, hopefully he can still produce a good time against the clock, as he has done all season.
Other riders to look out for include Daniel Martin and Julian Alaphillipe (Etixx), Fabio Aru (Astana), Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale), Adam Yates (Orica Orica-GreenEDGE ), Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha), Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), Daniel Moreno (Movistar) and Pierre Rolland (Cannondale).
Join The Roar‘s live coverage of the Criterium du Dauphine from 9:30pm AEST.
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