The 2025 Critérium du Dauphiné can pay homage to native French star Romain Bardet (Workforce Picnic PostNL) with a stage 3 begin in his residence city of Brioude within the final race of his highway profession.
A winner final 12 months of the opening stage of the Tour de France, Bardet, 34, is about to retire from highway racing and change to gravel after participating within the Dauphiné this June. He gained a stage of the Dauphiné again in 2015 and completed runner-up to Chris Froome in 2016 in the identical occasion. The Picnic-PostNL racer will obtain a particular recognition in entrance of a house crowd on stage 3 of the 2025 version.
All through its usually demanding eight-day course, which runs from June 8-15, this 12 months’s Critérium du Dauphiné will act as a key pre-Tour de France check for favourites Tadej Pogačar (UAE Workforce Emirates-XRG) and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) in addition to Belgian star Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep).
Defending champion Primoz Roglič (Purple Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) will nearly definitely not participate, as he can be racing the Giro d’Italia, the three-week Grand Tour ending June 1.
The 2025 route is notably completely different to the 2024 Critérium du Dauphiné in its first half. The contrasts begin with the a lot punchier opening leg from Domerat to Monluçon, that includes at least seven class 4 climbs within the final 80 kilometres.
There isn’t any repeat of the 2024 back-to-back class 3 summit finishes on stage 2 and stage 3, both. As a substitute late minor climbs on the run-ins to Issoire and Charantonnay will doubtless spark a battle between the sprinters’ groups – who can even be anxious by a really steep, quick ramp within the closing kilometres of stage 3 – and the breakaway specialists.
The largest change for the GC riders, although, is the normal stage 4 particular person time trial. That is simply 17.7 kilometres lengthy, in comparison with the far more arduous 34-kilometre course in 2024. That shorter distance will doubtless preserve all of the favourites nearer collectively on GC for the crunch mountain phases which comply with.
After an uncommon summit end consisting of back-to-back catetory 2 ascents of Domancy and Combloux within the northern fringe of the Alps, the sort-out course of begins on stage 6, stage 7 and is by far the hardest of the whole race.
Three Alpine hors class climbs – the Croix-de-Fer, the Madeleine and the ultimate ascent to the little-known Valmeinier – are all packed into simply 132 kilometres making for a ferociously tough day. The Dauphine’s love of a sting in a tail will not be uncared for, both, on the ultimate day. One other mountain trek throughout six categorized ascents that culminate within the last class 1 climb to the Mont Cenis Plateau, and can resolve the general winner of France’s third-biggest stage race.
Race organisers ASO additionally introduced the groups which can be due to participate within the 77th version of the Critérium du Dauphiné. The 18 WorldTour squads will race alongside Israel-Premier Tech, the one ProTeam gaining an automated qualification after Lotto turned down their invite. The three different squads current can be TotalEnergies, Julian Alaphilippe’s Tudor Professional squad and Norwegian outfit Uno-X Mobility.
Stage 1: Domérat – Montluçon, 189.2km
Will the sprinters attempt to management this stage? Given so many quick, explosive climbs can be make it onerous to blow up, this seems made for a gutsy late assault by a breakaway specialist like Julian Alaphilippe or…Tadej Pogačar?
- Km 107.9: Cat.4 Côte de Sainte-Thérence
- Km 114: Cat.4 Côte d’Argenty
- Km 125.5: Cat.4 Côte de Buffon
- Km 130: Montlučon – Dash
- Km 137.8: Cat.4 Côte de Domérat
- Km 155.1: Cat.4 Côte de Buffon
- Km 167.4: Cat.4 Côte de Domérat
- Km 184.7: Cat.4 Côte de Buffon
Stage 2: Premilhat – Issoire, 204.6km
A lumpy starting for the breakaways, however the flattish finale and scant alternatives – as at all times – for the fastmen within the 2025 Dauphiné will doubtless make this a primary bunch dash.
- Km 33.4: Cat.4 Côte de la Font Nanaud
- Km 50.5: Cat.4 Côte de Saint-Priest-les-Champs
- Km 61.1: Cat.3 Côte des Rivauds
- Km 71.8: Cat.3 Côte de Saint-Jacques d’Ambur
- Km 102: Dash – Olby
- Km 147.1: Cat.2 Côte de Château de Buron
- Km 186.7: Cat.4: Côte de Nonette
Stage 3: Brioude – Charantonnay 202.8km
One other sprinters v. breakaway fest, with the very early climbs and steep ramp within the closing kilometres doubtless favouring these chancing their arm from distance – and maybe a late check by a GC contender.
- Km 8.9: Cat.3 Côte de Cornille
- Km 18: Cat.2 Côte de la Barbate
- Km 29.4: Dash – La Chaise-Dieu
- Km 78.7: Cat.3 Côte de Malataverne
- Km 124.2. Cat.4 Côl du Tracol
- Km 183.8: Cat.3 Côte du Château Jaune
Stage 4: Charmes-sur-Rhône – Saint-Peéray 17.7km (ITT)
A brief, fairly hilly time trial, that will not create main variations on GC, so fairly a change from the standard Dauphiné mid-week contre-la-montre.
Stage 5: Saint-Priest – Mâcon 182.6km
A 3rd and last probability for the sprinters right here because the GC males preserve their powder dry for the three hilly phases to come back.
- Km 91: Cat.4 Côte-de-Saint-Amour
- Km 103: Cat.3: Col de Fontmartin
- Km 120.6: Cat.4: Col du Boubon
- Km 142.7: Dash – Col du Bois Clair
- Km 155.8: Cat.4 Côte des Quatre Vents
Stage 6: Valserhône – Combloux 139.1km
The primary key mountain stage, and even when it is nowhere close to as onerous because the weekend, the ultimate Cat.2 mixture will certainly scale back the bunch to a gaggle of 5 or ten finisher at most.
- Km 46.6: Cat.4: Côte de Villy-le-Pelloux
- Km 70.7 Cat.3: Col des Fleuries
- Km 98.6 Cat.1: Côte de Mont-Saxonnex
- Km 119.1: Dash – La Grangeat
- Km 132.7: Cat.2: Côte de Domancy
- Km 139.1: Cat.2: Côte de la Cry (Combloux)
Stage 7: Grand-Aigueblanche – Valmeinier 1800 132.1km
63.5 kilometres of climbing in a 132.1km stage; 3 hors categorie ascents, two of them peaking out at greater than 2,000 metres above sea stage and the final a summit end; barely a metre of flat all through. Might it’s the rest than a Critérium du Dauphiné queen stage?
- Km 25.8: HC climb: Col de la Madeleine
- Km 70.8: HC climb: Col de la Croix de Fer
- Km 115.2: Dash – Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne
- Km 132.1: HC climb: Col de Valmeinier
Stage 8: Val-D’Arc – Plateau du Mont Cenis 133.8km
The battle for general victory within the 2024 Critérium du Dauphine went down the wire as race chief Roglič struggled on the ultimate ascent – and this time round on stage 8, there’s room sufficient aplenty for a rival to problem the general chief once more. That last climb to Mont-Centis might but see the sparks fly once more identical to on the final climb of 2023. However with so many robust little ascents, technical downhills and drained legs all spherical in 2025 after per week’s onerous racing, ambushes might simply come earlier.
- Km 4.7: Cat.3 Côte d’Aiton
- Km 15.3: Cat.2 Côte de Saint-Georges-d’Hurtières
- Km 67.2: Cat.1 Col de Beaune
- Km 75.8: Dash – Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne
- Km 88.4: Cat.3 Côte-de-Saint-André
- Km 101.6: Cat.2 Côte d’Aussois
- Km 128.7: Cat.1 Col du Mont-Cenis