8 Critérium du Dauphiné conclusions 🇫🇷
Analysing whether we'll have a contest at the Tour de France, and where the GC contenders find themselves after eight days of racing at the Dauphiné
Hi Subscribers,
A short intro from me this morning before we launch into the first story of the week. The Criterium du Dauphiné provided a multifaceted glimpse into the form of several key GC contenders and how their teams might race come the Tour de France in July, with Tadej Pogačar putting on a clinic to win three stages and the overall.
As for Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel, they are playing catch-up, despite possessing the advantage in the mid-stage time trial. There were notable performances from Florian Lipowitz, Tobias Johannessen, Mathieu van der Poel, and Lenny Martinez, as we highlight nine conclusions from the pre-Tour race.
Thanks
Daniel 🫶
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Pogačar sets a new standard 🟡
The contest effectively ended on stage 6 when a seated Tadej Pogačar rode away from the best riders in the world as if they were standing still. The following day, the Slovenian treated the cycling world to his second consecutive stage win, and on the final fling in the mountains on stage 8, the Tour de France favourite did all that was required of him to seal the overall victory. The winning margin might have only stood at 59 seconds to Vingegaard, but frankly, it could have been two or three times that had Pogačar put the pedal to the metal.
He rode within himself over the final two days in the mountains, barely breaking sweat on stage 8 when he ghosted onto Vinegegaard’s wheel whenever the Dane made futile attempts to put the yellow jersey on the defensive. Even when Visma managed to isolate the Slovenian, he never once looked in trouble. This was a training exercise for the Tour champion, and nothing more.
The opposition has been firmly put in their place and reminded that anything close to a Tour victory will be beyond them - Vingegaard aside - until either Pogačar gets bored or divine intervention strikes. He won nearly half the stages in the race, including a bunch sprint, and now sits on 99 road victories at the age of 26. That’s one shy of Nibali and Froome during their combined careers. What we’re witnessing, and what we’ve witnessed consistently since 2020, is truly phenomenal.
For those hoping for anything more than a three-week procession come the Tour de France, the omens don’t look particularly favourable. Yes, the Tour de France, and the final week of the race is still over a month away, but barring accident, there’s only one rider who can lay a finger on Pogačar when he’s in the form, and Vingegaard’s not close to the required level right now. The scariest element to all this is that we can’t even assume that Pogačar is at his peak either. He didn’t go into the red on the final two stages, while Vingegaard was clearly giving everything he had. Honestly, we could be in store for the most outlandish Tour de France we’ve seen in years.
Hear from Tadej Pogačar 🎧