The route of the 74th edition, which was unveiled Thursday in Lyon, will link the Ardèche (start at La Voulte) to Haute-Savoie (Solaison) via eleven departments and will include a time trial of 31.9 kilometers around Montbrison (Loire).
Dress rehearsal a month before the Tour de France, the event should bring together the double French world champion Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step), the Belgian Wout Van Aert (Jumbo), winner of three stages of the Grande Boucle last year , and the Italian Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain).
The participation of the title holder, the Australian Richie Porte (Ineos), is still unknown.
After the serious injury of his Colombian teammate Egan Bernal at the end of January, "I understand that his training does not yet know who will be the leader at the start of the Dauphiné", commented Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France and organizer of the event.
On the other hand, Christian Prudhomme announced the arrival of the French David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), one of the rising stars of the peloton, Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroën), "the best as a puncher", and the champion of France Rémi Cavagna, as well as Australian Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citroën), Dutchman Wilco Kelderman (Bora) and Spaniard Enric Mas (Movistar), respectively 4th, 5th and 6th in the Tour last year.
True to its tradition, the route will give pride of place to climbers, with 26 passes in total.
The penultimate stage takes up most of the route of the queen stage of the Tour next July, with two of the Alpine giants, the Galibier (via the Lautaret) and the Croix-de-Fer.
With the difference that the final ascent will end in Vaujany instead of Alpe d'Huez.
The last stage will end at the Plateau de Solaison, as in 2017, when Dane Jakob Fuglsang won.
The peloton of the last edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné advanced stretched around the leader Richie Porte towards Les Gets, June 6, 2021 Alain JOCARD AFP / Archives
Twenty-two teams will be competing.
In addition to the 18 WorldTour and Arkea-Samsic qualified sportingly, the organizers have invited the French B&B Hotels and TotalEnergies as well as the Norwegian Uno-X.
The stages of the 74th edition (1190 km):
June 5: 1st stage La Voulte-sur-Rhône (Ardèche) - Beauchastel (Ardèche), 191.8 km
June 6: 2nd stage Saint-Péray (Ardèche) - Brives-Charensac (Haute-Loire), 169.8 km
June 7: 3rd stage Saint-Paulien (Haute-Loire) - Chastreix-Sancy (Puy-de-Dôme), 164 km
June 8: 4th stage Montbrison (Loire) - La Bâtie d'Urfé (Loire), 31.9 km (time trial)
June 9: 5th stage Thizy-les-Bourgs (Rhône) - Chaintré (Saône-et-Loire), 162.3 km
June 10: 6th stage Rives (Isère) - Gap (Hautes-Alpes), 196.4 km
June 11: 7th stage Saint-Chaffrey (Hautes-Alpes) - Vaujany (Isère), 134.8 km
June 12: 8th stage Saint-Alban-Leysse (Savoie) - Plateau de Solaison (Haute-Savoie), 139.2 km
© 2022 AFP