The route for the 2017 Critérium du Dauphiné has been presented today, a chance to project beyond the spring classics into summer. The Dauphiné is often seen in the shadow of the Tour de France because it borrows some of the same roads and acts a dress rehearsal for July, even with some copycat stages. It runs from Sunday 4 June to Sunday 11 June. Here’s a closer look at the route ahead.
With Paris-Nice done and Milan-Sanremo coming up soon it’s only a short ride along the coast between their two finish lines. Along the way there’s plenty of interest to the sport, from fine climbs, star gazing and a cycle path that’s so good the Giro used it for its opening stage a couple of years ago. Plus the definitive answer to whether it’s San Remo or Sanremo.
Michał Kwiatkowski attacks on the Poggio as the Tinkoff team behind chases to aide their leader Peter Sagan, the pre-race pick. Kwiatkowski’s got a gap and he’s a mean descender so he’s in with a chance. If you’ve been watching on TV this is a moment of almost unbearable tension.
Milan-Sanremo is the longest race on the pro calendar yet it’s so often dependent on events in the last five minutes.
It will take you two seconds to read this sentence. That was the winning margin Sergio Henao held over Alberto Contador after a thrilling thrilling week of racing where the result in suspense until the end.
Was there a winning moment? Alberto Contador could spend another week going back over the moments he lost a second here or there, that time bonus on the Mur de Fayence taken by Henao, th lack of a team mate up the road on the final stage and why did Ion Izagirre pull so hard on the descent into Nice? This was a rich race full of action that it’s impossible to reduce to one moment.
The final stage and all to play for with the top-3 overall within 30 seconds of each other.
The big stage with the high summit finish. When the race route was launched the summit finish on the Col de la Couillole was the novelty for its altitude. It’s the length and gradient that matter today.
A long stage with plenty of climbing and an exciting finish with the “Mur de Fayence” as the conclusion.
A sprint stage, the last sprint stage which suggests all the teams with house sprinters have a big interest in controlling the stage. Easier said than done, this stage shares many of the same roads as one of the stages last year including the Côte de Saint-Uze which saw off plenty of rivals. This time the stage finish is different with a high speed descent on the approach before an uphill run to the line.
Believe in Team Sky? Have faith in Dave Brailsford? Pro cycling ought to be as simple as riding a bike, of 200 riders trying to cross a white line first. Only it’s more complicated. This sophistication can satisfy as we learn about aerodynamics or geography, sometimes it’s tiresome as we trawl the UCI rulebook or WADA Code. As Team Sky’s TUE saga goes on, it’s not so much learning about new subjects, it’s more an exploration of the frontier of what we know and what we don’t.
A time trial today and this was supposed to be the first chance for the overall contenders to stake their claim. Two wild stages have ruined the chances for many already so today we’ll learn more about the relative condition of the main contenders.