Critérium du Dauphiné - Prelude to the Grand Tour?

The 2013 Dauphiné is in the books.  Before we analyze its possible insights into this year’s Tour de France, let’s revisit last year’s blog for a refresher on the origins of this race and its curious name:

Dauphin (pronounced “dough-fan”) is the French word for dolphin.  An early ruler of the area around Grenoble had a dolphin on his coat of arms, so his nickname, Dauphin, became a title for the regional ruler.  During one period the region was sold to the king of France who gave it to his son, the heir apparent to the throne, and the title Dauphin came to mean the heir to the king.  This diverse and beautiful region around Grenoble–from the Rhone River into the central Alps became known as the Dauphiné (pronounced “dough-fee-nay”).  Years ago, a local newspaper organized a bike race in the region which is now called the “Critérium du Dauphiné,” or sometimes just the “Dauphiné.”  It is an important race each spring setting the stage for the Tour de France.

This year’s Dauphiné had 8 stages, of which only two were won by sprinters.  Neither Mark  Cavendish (Omega Pharma Quickstep) nor Peter Sagan (Cannondale) participated in the race, so those two sprint stages give us few clues for the TDF sprinting.  The two stages were won by Elia Vivianni (Sagan’s teammate at Cannondale) and Edvald Boassen Hagen (Sky).  Team Sky will be concentrating on helping Chris Froome win the yellow jersey, but they would be happy if Boassen Hagen could steal a sprint stage at the Tour.  Vivianni will likely be working for Sagan, rather than seeking his own glory in the July race.  Two sprinters who came close in the Dauphiné were Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma Quickstep) and Michael Matthews (Orica GreenEdge).  Both of these were listed as sprinters to watch in our earlier report from the Tour of California.

The GC battle at the Dauphiné started off slowly, but Chris Froome (Sky) was always lurking.  In the stage 4 time trial, he asserted himself with a third-place finish, moving him to GC 2nd place, just 5 seconds behind Rohan Dennis (Garmin-Sharp).  Tony Martin (Omega Pharma Quickstep) won the time trial, thanks in part to an early start time which spared him from the strong winds which plagued the later riders who were expected to win this test.

In stage 5, Froome and the Sky machine took over the Dauphiné with a stage victory and a capture of the yellow jersey for Froome, and a move to GC 2nd place by his Sky teammate, Richie Porte.

Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Alessandro DeMarchi (Cannondale) won the three final stages, but Froome and Porte always shadowed the winners and increased their strangle-hold on the top two GC podium places.

It is clear that Froome will captain the Sky team at the Tour de France, and that the team fully expects to carry him to the yellow jersey prize in Paris.  Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) always said that the Dauphiné was just a warm-up for the Tour.  So, don’t read too much pessimism into his mere 10th place GC finish, nor the fact that he ended the Dauphiné serving as domestique for his teammate Michael Rogers (GC 6th).  No more sandbagging or possum act for Contador and Saxo once the REAL Tour begins in just three weeks!

The Critérium du Dauphiné is an 8-stage race with a variety of terrains and formats, like the 20-stage Tour de France.  But, often a criterium is a one-day race with multiple laps around a fairly small more or less circular course.  The above picture is from the 2010 Tour of Utah criterium in Park City.  The riders raced around the course as many times as possible within a set time period.  Slow riders were eliminated if lapped by the peleton.  This format allows the spectators to see the riders pass by many times, or to move around and watch the peleton navigate sharp corners, steep uphill sections, and fast downhill sections.  A "crit" is very spectator-friendly.

This photo shows the start of the August 2012 North Boulder Park Classic criterium (Boulder, Colorado).

Here the peleton screams around a sharp corner after flying down the hill in the background.

Here comes the winner toward the finish line, welcomed by the applause of the spectators!  (Sorry, I did not record the winner's name.)