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ASO have unveiled the route of the 2024 Critérium du Dauphiné, with three summit finishes in a row set to round off the eight-day race, which also features a 34.4km time trial on stage 4.
The race, which runs from June 2-9 as a major lead-in race to July’s Tour de France, will feature two early uphill finishes and two sprint days among the first five stages. However, the headline stages are all packed into the final three days.
Summit finishes at Le Collet d’Allevard (11.1km at 8.1%), Samoëns 1600 (10km at 9.3%), and Plateau des Glières (9.4km at 7.1%) conclude the final three stages. The 145.5km stage 7 is set to feature as the queen stage – four first-category climbs in the Col des Saisies, Col des Aravis, Col de la Colombière, and Côte d’Arâches lead into the finale at Samoëns ski resort.
Reigning champion Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) will return to defend his title in the run-up to his Tour de France defence. He’ll face off against Tour rivals Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), though the other member of the Tour’s ‘big four’, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), won’t be racing.
David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek), and Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) are among the other big names set to start the race.
The opening stage of the race will be a 174.8km ride beginning and ending in Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule, one for the sprinters with no major climbs on the day aside from a trio of fourth- and third-category hills early on.
Stage 2, a 142km day from Gannat to the Col de la Loge, will bring the climbers out as the peloton tackles a second- and third-category climb inside the final 20km en route to the uphill finish and the first GC sorting of the race.
The next day brings another uphill test as the punchy…
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