Critérium du Dauphiné: 10 riders to watch

The Giro d’Italia may have only just finished, but it’s already time to adjust your lenses from pink to yellow as the lead-in to the Tour de France ramps up this weekend with the start of the Critérium du Dauphiné. Traditionally the biggest pre-July test, the Dauphiné takes the shape of a mini Tour in the Alps of southwest France, and is usually a big indicator of who will do well in the Grande Boucle. It’s not just the GC contenders, either - many of the best sprinters, puncheurs and breakaway specialists will also be looking to show off their form and scope out their competition when racing gets underway on Sunday.

Unsure who the main protagonists will be as attention shifts from Italy to France? Here are our riders to watch during this year’s Critérium du Dauphiné.

Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma)

Perhaps you don’t need us to tell you to keep an eye on the defending Tour de France champion as he begins his tilt at a second yellow jersey, but we’re doing it anyway. Jonas Vingegaard is returning to competition after two months without racing, making his form slightly unknown, so all eyes will be on him and how he is performing one month out from the Tour. Even in the absence of the injured Tadej Pogačar, who should be his main rival in July, Vingegaard will be out to prove his chances of defending his Tour title. Don’t take his lack of racing as any kind of weakness, though: Vingegaard’s season so far has been race day-light but win-heavy, taking seven wins and two overall titles in just 17 days of racing. He might come into this slightly undercooked after a training camp, but even an undercooked Vingegaard will be one of the best climbers.

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Jonas Vingegaard took victory at the Tour of the Basque Country earlier this spring.

Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers)

A rider who will be hoping to make a return to the top flight of GC contenders at the Dauphiné is 2019 Tour de France winner Egan Bernal. Based on his performances so far this season, it would be generous to call Bernal a favourite, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a rider to watch closely this coming week. The 26-year-old has had a difficult 18 months after a serious crash and extensive injuries at the start of 2022, and he hasn’t taken a win since his Giro victory in 2021, but he is back to racing full time in 2023 and has been picking up top-10 finishes in the spring’s stage races so far. The Dauphiné will be the Colombian’s biggest test yet this season, and should let us know how close he is to returning to his Grand Tour winning self.

Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step)

With plenty of in-between, medium climbing stages at this year’s Dauphiné, we’re hoping Julian Alaphilippe will deliver the kind of excitement and panache he’s become known for. After an injury-hampered 2022 season, Alaphilippe has had a slightly mixed 2023 so far, taking a win in February and second on a stage at Tirreno-Adriatico, but fairly anonymous in the Classics, including missing most of the Ardennes. Having not raced since Liège, the Frenchman’s form is something of an unknown, but he’s been training at altitude with the team in Sierra Nevada, and most recently posted his latest training strategy: riding with his son in a trailer attached to his road bike. Alaphilippe will be hoping for a strong ride at the Tour this year, not least because it makes a rare visit to his home region of Clermont-Ferrand, so the Dauphiné should see him testing out his form with some attacking racing before July.

Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroën)

After runner-up Vingegaard, the best-placed rider returning from last year’s Dauphiné is Ben O’Connor, who put in an impressive performance to finish third in 2022. He went on to abandon the Tour on the first rest day after a crash, so the Australian is returning to this block of racing with some wrongs to right. O’Connor has had a relatively quiet European season so far, his best result being fifth at the Tour du Jura, but he’s a rider who is good at targeting a narrow block of racing, so don’t use his results so far to discount him. Particularly in the absence of Pogačar and his style of very explosive racing, O’Connor should have a chance to shine at this Dauphiné, enduring well in the long and difficult climbs. He has a strong AG2R Citroën team around him, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him repeat his success from last June.

Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe)

From one Australian to another, 2022 Giro winner Jai Hindley is making his Tour de France debut this summer, so we’ll be watching very closely how he performs at the Dauphiné. Racing in France is a different beast, and Hindley’s stage race results this season have been fairly middling, so this is his chance to prove whether he is on the level to be considered a key GC contender in the Tour or not. We’re particularly keen to see how he performs in the time trial on stage 4, as the discipline has perhaps been his weaker point in previous stage race attempts.

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The time trial will be a key test for Jai Hindley.

Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar Team)

Could an American make a return to the Dauphiné podium for the first time since 2019? Matteo Jorgenson has been one of the stand-out riders of the spring, and faces his biggest test yet next week in France. After winning the Tour of Oman, he rode impressively at Paris-Nice and most recently finished second overall to Adam Yates at the Tour de Romandie - a run of GC results punctuated by top 10s at E3 and the Tour of Flanders. The Dauphiné will be a step up, but if Jorgenson’s good form is extending into the summer, he’s certainly in the running for a very good result here.

David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ)

The rider who has been the closest match to Vingegaard and Pogačar so far this season, at Paris-Nice, is Groupama-FDJ’s David Gaudu. He had a short and abortive Classics campaign, DNFing all three Ardennes races, but will be back in his stage racing comfort zone at the Dauphiné, and will be hoping to lay some strong foundations ahead of his home Grand Tour. Don’t forget about Gaudu, he’s shaping up to be a big threat in the yellow jersey race this summer.

Giulio Ciccone (Trek Segafredo)

Giulio Ciccone is a bit of a wildcard rider at this race: he had been shaping his spring around his build-up to the Giro, but an ill-timed case of Covid saw him sidelined from his home race, so he may be heading to France with some unspent energy and a point to prove. The Italian has had the best GC results of his career so far this year, and is always on the lookout for a chance for an opportunistic attack, so we’ll be keeping a keen eye on Ciccone in the Dauphine’s tougher stages.

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Dylan Groenewegen was picking up May wins whilst his competitors raced the Giro d’Italia.

Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco AlUla)

None of the stages at this year’s Dauphiné are perfectly flat - or anywhere particularly close to that - but the opening days of the race should be attracting the attention of the sprinters, and there are a few names to look out for. Of the sprinters who weren’t at the Giro, Dylan Groenewegen looks to be in the best form, having won the opening stage of the Tour de Hongrie and the Veenendaal-Veenendaal Classic at the end of May. Jayco-AlUla will be mainly focusing on sprinting over the GC, so Groenewegen should expect good support from the team as he winds up towards the Tour, where he should be one of the best sprinters.

Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe)

One of the sprinters we’re most interested to see is Sam Bennett. The Irishman is set to make his return to the Tour de France for the first time since 2020, and he has some ground to make up at the Dauphiné if he wants to be in contention for stage wins come July. Bennett has only won once so far this season, on his very first day of racing back in January at the Vuelta a San Juan, and was slightly off the mark at the UAE Tour and Paris-Nice, before coming second to Groenewegen on stage 1 of the Tour de Hongrie. He’s proven before that he’s capable of winning Tour de France sprints - even the biggest one of the Champs-Élysées - but we’ll be looking at him in this race and asking whether he’s ready to do that again in 2023.