This WT stage race goes from Sunday to Sunday, and there will be climbs everyday, even on the TTT which will therefore be exceptionally difficult.
Unfortunately, this is yet another race which was 'bought' by the local elected officials, who changed its name to promote their fiefdom, and ⅓ of the Dauphiné will never be visited any more, as it belongs to a different administration.
Riders
No Pogatchar, no Vingegaard; this leaves the door open for the next level of favourites: the UAE duo Almeida🇵🇹/Del Toro🇲🇽 and Ze Elect (🇫🇷 Decathlon). Skjelmose (🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek) and Jorgenson (🇺🇸 Visma) will be the main outsiders.
Stages
(I apologise if the pictures look shitty, but they were already horribly compressed Jpeg on the official website...)
NB: there are no time bonuses on this race, neither at the end of stages nor within them.
Stage 1 (Sunday 7)
146 km, 3200 m D+
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Stage 2 (Monday 8)
234 km, 3700 m D+
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Stage 3 (Tuesday 9) Team Time Trial
27 km, 400 m D+
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Stage 4 (Wednesday 10)
167 km, 2100 m D+
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Stage 5 (Thursday 11)
196 km, 2200 m D+
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Stage 6 (Friday 12)
183 km, 2900 m D+
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Stage 7 (Saturday 13)
134 km, 3700 m D+
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Stage 8 (Sunday 14)
120 km, 4100 m D+
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Perhaps they made a big mistake, for per UCI regulations, the TTT could not be positioned after stage 3 anyway. Did they forget about that in the fist place?
I did, I did. Sorry that I didn't post about the victory of the big Dane 😃
I think one main factor explaining the finish is that the stage was 234 km (+ 11 km of neutral start) long, with some rain on top of that. And there was no real flat in the last 140 km: there were the official climbs, but most of the rest of the terrain was hills, more or less smooth. This probably explains how R. Garcia (🇪🇸 Movistar) couldn't accelerate more in the last 30 km: half-cooked, half-numbed, he could just pace (at a pretty good pace), not accelerate.
The little Braz (🇫🇷 FDJ) knew he didn't stand a chance if he arrived with anyone else, so he attacked/followed every attack in every climb (also he wanted the Mountain jersey). Therefore he killed himself. I mean, the guy has the build of a middle-school girl... In theory, he shouldn't be made for this kind of stage, but climbs don't hurt him and, as long as he can stay in someone's wheel, he is 100% sheltered on the flat (and doesn't shelter others much). Now on the flat again, when it comes to stay ahead alone, or to catch someone up, that's much more difficult for him.
Jegat (🇫🇷 Total) is no good at the moment.