Dani Martinez wins the Critérium du Dauphiné ahead of Thibaut Pinot and Guillaume Martin at the end of a thrilling final stage. Not a shock but a surprise. Primož Roglič looked the strongest rider all week but retired before the last stage, copying Egan Bernal who had also left. In this abbreviated, condensed season the Tour de France is more important than ever and the Dauphiné was both a lively and instructive five days of racing.
A hard day in the Alps, today’s stage is up and down all day with 4,600m of vertical gain.
Another day, another summit finish and this time with the giant Col de la Madeleine in the way.
The race goes into the Alps with a short stage and a big summit finish, today is a big test of form and fitness with a long climb that’s the hardest summit finish of the week.
The opening stage of the Dauphiné has some familiar roads before an uphill finish. This is notionally the flatter stage before the Alpine racing ahead but it’s all relative, it’s a hard day in the saddle with a tough finish.
If the Critérium du Dauphiné is a condensed version of the Tour de France, this year’s edition is even more concentrated, five stages and all with uphill finishes. After the lively Tour de l’Ain last weekend, we’ll see another round of Jumbo-Visma vs Team Ineos, only this time practically every other contender for the Tour de France and their full-strength squads are coming too.
The route for the 2020 Critérium du Dauphiné race (31 May- 7 June) has been unveiled today and for only the second time in the race’s history there’s no time trial. Instead it’s a race of two halves with a flatter first part before four consecutive stages in the Alps with beaucoup climbing. Often a highlight of the year, the route borrows from this summer Tour de France but there are also some “new” climbs.
Wout Poels has punched ahead for the stage win but behind Jacob Fuglsand and Emanuel Buchmann are ahead of the rest of the contenders. The photo tells us plenty about the week with the wet weather visible and an Ineos worker unleashed.
The final stage of the Dauphiné and there’s still all to play for with the overall classification still wide open. Jacob Fuglsang leads but can he defend and win this race for the second time?
The big mountain stage that’s just 133km, today’s stage has a succession of climbs leading to the long slog up to the ski resort of Pipay.