Tour de France favorites line up for the 69th Edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné

Froome, Contador, Porte, Aru, Bardet, Valverde and Martin prepare for the showdown ahead of the this year's Tour de France

The 69th Edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné will begin in Saint-Étienne on June 4th. A week of racing through the Rhône-Alpes-Auvergne region. The race dates back to 1947 and takes place in the Dauphiné region in southeastern France. The last big showdown before the Tour de France, the Critérium du Dauphiné sometimes includes some of the same roads and climbs of the Tour.

On the menu, is eight tough stages with a total distance of 1,155 kilometers.

The Critérium du Dauphiné is the final dress rehearsal, just 3 weeks before the before the start of the Tour de France. The Critérium du Dauphiné is a race very much appreciated by the Pro Peloton because it allows the favorites and their teams to gauge their form, tactics and teamwork before the major rendezvous of the season.

Beware, this is no training ride, this is a full-on race and promises epic viewing for cycling fans in some on some of the most breathtaking, spectacular and iconic cycling roads and climbs across France.

The Favorites

Chris Froome is the defending champion. In 2016, he shared the podium Romain Bardet and Daniel Martin. The Briton was successful in 2015, too. On both occasions he won the Tour de France too. So far his season hasn't been as good as previous years and he was lucky to escape without injury after a serious road rage incident whilst out training near his home in Monaco. Froome has been keeping a low profile, but no doubt has been putting in long hard training days to be in form for Le Tour.

Fabio Aru will make a return to racing at the Criterium du Dauphine. Astana team manager Alexandre Vinokourov has said that after recovering from injury, Aru took part in a high-altitude training camp with his teammate Jakob Fuglsang. The change in schedule means that Aru's new goal for the season is the Tour de France - a race in which he finished 13th last year.

Alejandro Valverde will head up Movistar's strong lineup. Alberto Contador, Richie Porte, Dan Martin and Romain Bardet will also be taking part and will also be looking to take the title ahead of the Tour de France.

Direct Energie's Bryan Coquard and Thomas Voeckler fresh from the Tour de Yorkshire are sure to animate the racing. So are Warren Barguil, Esteban Chaves, Simon Yates and Gianluca Brambilla.

From the USA BMC's Brent Bookwalter, fresh off a 4th place at the Tour of California will also add to the list of strong riders including Cannondale Drapac's Andrew Talansky.

There's a whole host of the best sprinters taking part including Alexander Kristoff, Sonny Colbrelli and Nacer Bouhanni to name a few who will come in handy on four of the flatter stages that could see some great sprint finishes.

Critérium du Dauphiné 2016 Overall Classification

1. Chris Froome (GBR) Team Sky, 29-59-31
2. Romain Bardet (FRA) Ag2r La Mondiale, at 12s
3. Dan Martin (IRL) Etixx-Quick Step, at 19s
4. Richie Porte (AUS) BMC, at 21s
5. Alberto Contador (ESP) Tinkoff, at 35s
6. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Etixx-Quick Step, at 51s
7. Adam Yates (GBR), Orica-GreenEdge, at 57s
8. Diego Rosa (ITA) Astana, at 1-13
9. Louis Meintjes (RSA) Lampre-Merida, at 1-30
10. Pierre Rolland (FRA) Cannondale, at 2-43

The Route

The race sets off with a stage Saint Etienne-Saint Etienne on a route that takes in eight climbs – the last one is crested with 6.5 kilometres left. The first stage is a loop of 170 kilometers around Saint-Étienne. After departing in the courtyard of Cour Fauriel, the riders will travel north across the Loire and then return by Saint-Maurice-en-Gourguois, Caloire and the valley of Ondaine. Returning to Saint-Étienne, they will pass by the Cour Fauriel before going through the Saint-Étienne-Rochetaillée loop three times. The peloton will then pass four times in front of the spectators in the downtown area, which promises great opening spectacle.

The 2nd, 3rd and 5th stages could give the Sprinters an opportuntiy to shine, whilst stage 4 brings the opportunity to open or close time gaps in the 23.5 km individual time trial.

Big Tour de France Alpine Climbs Feature

The 2017 Critérium du Dauphiné is set to conclude with three tough days in the Alps.

The first is a test of the upcoming Tour de France showdown as the last 50 kilometres are exactly the same as stage 9 in the Tour de France.

After tackling the steep Mont du Chat, a 8.7 kilometres climb at 10.3%, the stage finish is a steep downhill run to the finish line. This year that will occur on stage six, the first truly climbing stage — 145.5km from Parc des Oiseaux Villars-les-Dombes to La Motte-Servolex. The last 50km over the HC Mont du Chat are in this year’s Tour de France. 

The next day Alpe d’Huez looms at the finish, but without its iconic ascent. The Critérium du Dauphiné is offering a new passage up the mythical climb of the legendary climb of Alpe d'Huez.

Instead of the traditional climb from Bourg d’Oisans, Stage 7 will tackle the Col de Sarenne which joins up to the higher slopes of Alpe d’Huez. The Sarenne is 15.3 kilometres at 6.9% before a rolling section joins up to the final 3.7 kilometres, 7.2% climb up to the very top of Alpe d’Huez, missing out all 21 hairpin bends on it's lower slopes. 

The final stage from Albertville to Plateau de Solaison is short (115 kilometres) but very tough with more than 4,000 vertical metres, it will make for a brutal day's riding. The route takes in three intermediate climbs before the final climb up to Plateau de Solaison – 11.3 kilometres at 9.2%.

2017 Criterium Du Dauphine Stages

Sunday, 4 June — Stage 1: Saint-Étienne > Saint-Étienne (170 km)
Monday, 5 June — Stage 2: Saint-Chamond > Arlanc (171 km)
Tuesday, 6 June — Stage 3: Le Chambon-sur-Lignon > Tullins (184 km)
Wednesday, 7 June — Stage 4: La Tour-du-Pin > Bourgoin-Jallieu (23.5 ITT)
Thursday, 8 June — Stage 5: La Tour-de-Salvagny > Mâcon (175 km)
Friday, 9 June — Stage 6: Parc des Oiseaux Villars-les-Dombes > La Motte-Servolex (145.5 km)
Saturday, 10 June — Stage 7: Aosta > Alpe d’Huez (167.5 km)
Sunday, 11 June — Stage 8: Albertville > Plateau de Solaison (115 km)

Live Coverage

Gran Fondo Guide will be providing daily live coverage from each stage, including photos, video race results, rider reactions and video highlights on our 2017 Critérium du Dauphiné LIVESTREAM.

Be sure to tune in from Sunday June 4th to Sunday June 11th and get your appetite wet ahead of this year's Tour de France.

VIDEO: Best of the 2016 Criterium Du Dauphine

2017 Critérium du Dauphiné Provisional Start List

Ag2r La Mondiale (FRA)

BARDET Romain
CHÉREL Mickaël
DOMONT Axel
DUMOULIN Samuel
GAUTIER Cyril
LATOUR Pierre
NAESEN Oliver
VUILLERMOZ Alexis

Astana (KAZ)

ARU Fabio
CHERNETCKII Sergei
FUGLSANG Jakob
KOZHATAYEV Bakhtiyar
LUTSENKO Alexey
SANCHEZ Luis Leon
STALNOV Nikita
VALGREN Michael

BMC Racing (USA)

WYSS Danilo
ROCHE Nicolas
ROSSKOPF Joey
PORTE Richie
MOINARD Amae¨l
HERMANS Ben
DE MARCHI Alessandro
BOOKWALTER Brent

Bora-Hansgrohe (GER)

ACKERMANN Pascal
BUCHMANN Emanuel
HERKLOTZ Silvio
KÖNIG Leopold
PFINGSTEN Christoph
SARAMOTINS Aleksejs
SCHILLINGER Andreas
SCHWARZMANN Michael

Cannondale-Drapac (USA)

BETTIOL Alberto
BROWN Nathan
CANTY Brendan
LANGEVELD Sebastian
TALANSKY Andrew
VAN ASBROECK Tom
VAN BAARLE Dylan

Cofidis (FRA)

BOUHANNI Nacer
CLAEYS Dimitri
LAPORTE Christophe
NAVARRO Daniel
SIMON Julien
SOUPE Geoffrey
TURGIS Anthony
VAN GENECHTEN Jonas

Delko Marseille Provence KTM (FRA)

COMBAUD Romain
EL FARES Julien
FERNANDEZ Delio
FINETTO Mauro
MADRAZO A´ngel
PACHER Quentin
SISKEVICIUS Evaldas
SMUKULIS Gatis

Dimension Data (RSA)

BOASSON HAGEN Edvald
DEBESAY Mekseb
KUDUS Merhawi
O’CONNOR Ben
PAUWELS Serge
REGUIGUI Youcef
THOMSON Jay Robert
THWAITES Scott

Direct Energie (FRA)

BOUDAT Thomas
COQUARD Bryan
MORICE Julien
NAULEAU Bryan
PETIT Adrien
SICARD Romain
TULIK Angelo
VOECKLER Thomas

Quick-Step Floors (BEL)

BRAMBILLA Gianluca
CAPECCHI Eros
MARTIN Daniel
MAS Enric
TERPSTRA Niki
VAKOC Petr
VERMOTE Julien

FDJ (FRA)

CIMOLAI Davide
DELAGE Mickae¨l
DÉMARE Arnaud
GAUDU David
KONOVALOVAS Ignatas
LE GAC Olivier
SARREAU Marc
VICHOT Arthur

Team Sunweb (GER)

ANDERSEN Søren Kragh
BARGUIL Warren
BAUHAUS Phil
DE BACKER Bert
FRÖHLINGER Johannes
HAGA Chad
HOFSTEDE Lennard
OOMEN Sam

Katusha-Alpecin (SUI)

ZABEL Rick
LAMMERTINK Maurits
POLITT Nils
MØRKØV Michael
MARTIN Tony
MACHADO Tiago
BYSTRØM Sven Erik
KRISTOFF Alexander

Bahrain-Merida (BHN)

ARASHIRO Yukiya
BOLE Grega
BOZIC Borut
VISCONTI Giovanni
COLBRELLI Sonny
NAVARDAUSKAS Ramunas
PER David
BRAJKOVIC Janez

Lotto-Soudal (BEL)

ARMÉE Sander
VANENDERT Jelle
VAN DER SANDE Tosh
VALLS Rafael
SHAW James
GALLOPIN Tony
DE GENDT Thomas
BENOOT Tiesj

LottoNL-Jumbo (NED)

CLEMENT Stef
BOUWMAN Koen
VERMEULEN Alexey
VAN HOECKE Gijs
TOLHOEK Antwan
JANSEN Amund Grondahl
DE TIER Floris
BATTAGLIN Enrico

Movistar (ESP)

SÜTTERLIN Jasha
ARCAS Jorge
CARAPAZ Richard
ERVITI Imanol
MORENO Daniel
VALVERDE Alejandro
FERNÁNDEZ Rubén

Orica-Scott (AUS)

CHAVES Johan Esteban
GERRANS Simon
HAIG Jack
HOWSON Damien
IMPEY Daryl
KEUKELEIRE Jens
KREUZIGER Roman
YATES Simon

Team Sky (GBR)

FROOME Christopher
HENAO Sergio Luis
KNEES Christian
KWIATKOWSKI Michal
LOPEZ David
NIEVE Mikel
ROWE Luke
STANNARD Ian

Trek-Segafredo (USA)

CARDOSO André
GOGL Michael
ZUBELDIA Haimar
IRIZAR Markel
CONTADOR Alberto
THEUNS Edward
BERNARD Julien
BEPPU Fumiyuki

Wanty-Groupe Gobert (BEL)

BACKAERT Frederik
DEGAND Thomas
LEVARLET Guillaume
MARTIN Guillaume
OFFREDO Yoann
SMITH Dion
VAN KEIRSBULCK Guillaume
VANSPEYBROUCK Pieter

UAE – Team Emirates (UAE)

BONO Matteo
MEINTJES Louis
MORI Manuele
PETILLI Simone
POLANC Jan
RAVASI Edward
SWIFT Ben
ULISSI Diego