Velominati Super Prestige: Critérium du Dauphiné

I'll have mine medium rare with extra clenbuterol, please. Photo via Cycling Weekly

The Tour de France looms on the horizon, and those riders planning to race are putting the final touches on their form – or going into last-minute panic mode, final exam cram-style. The Critérium Dauphiné has long been a favorite preparation race serving both purposes rather well.

It’s a favorite of the Tour’s GC contenders as it usually features stages that, if not identical to key stages from the Tour, will at least feature many of the same climbs; habitual Tour winners like Indurain, Armstrong, and Clentador have traditionally used this race as their preferred method of final preparation; riders seeking additional form will take the beating taken from a week of suffering and have just enough time to recover prior to the Tour. And, of course, riders who have aspirations in July may also find they are a few kilos heavy yet and may indulge in some ultra-lean Spanish beef in order to get to fighting weight.

It’s also a dangerous gamble: ride too hard at the Critérium and you could fire off the Guns of Navarone and enter the Tour in a state of fatigue, as Pharmy did in 2003. A delicate balance, this.

The challenge in predicting the results of a preparation race such as this is that the favorites for the Tour are (hopefully) peaking in one month, not during this event. But they’ll be good – maybe good enough to win. But probably not. Combine that with that the notion that a rider with little hope in July may be looking for glory and will be in peak form, leading to an unexpected result – a review of last year’s race with Jani Brajkovic is a great example of this case.

With that we kick off into the first minor-stage VSP for the Critérium Dauphiné. Being a week-long stage race, the points on offer are 7 for first, 5 for second, 4 for third, 3 for fourth, 2 for fifth, with the usual allotment of bonus points for getting the rider right but the place wrong. Also, there are no rest days, so no rest day swaps, but we will have our usual approach for riders who drop out. Piti Principle applies as always. Also review the guide, being careful to note that the rules have changes a bit this year, and we may not have completely updated the guide yet, so if there’s a question, ask.

Best of luck to all.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

Gianni says:

Jun 7 2011 at 3:21 pm

@sgt
@heath

In fact I consider Stijn's socks to be an abomination before Merckx.

I consider Voekler's socks a sin before Merckx too...too tall and not white. It's unholy

Crazy Joe Devolder, hehehe
Marcus says:

Jun 7 2011 at 4:49 pm

@Alpin
Awesome photos all round - both of the gear and the pros - although a couple of french mademoiselle would not have gone astray.

Look stems are the business - have just managed to secure a 110cm version for my 595. Very happy - now throwing the Ritchey Carbon WCS stem into the back of brett's shop...
Karolinka says:

Jun 7 2011 at 5:09 pm

@Alpin:

I need to go take a cold shower. A long one. Maybe two.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!! For the Bike Porn lol and all the other wow-you-are-right-there! shots. We are extraordinarily lucky to have you sharing with us!

@frank:

Thanks for making the images in-line. I'm as lazy as the next person - really nice to be able to stay here and just scroll through them.
sprider says:

Jun 7 2011 at 6:07 pm

@Alpin, Drool, drool, drool, thanks for the Bike porn. I'm hooked!
paolo says:

Jun 7 2011 at 6:55 pm

Superb pictures. Thank you. By the time I got to the Cervelo's rule 5 was very much in observance.

edit. Oh...I just realized that's not what it means...sorry.
Karolinka says:

Jun 7 2011 at 11:27 pm

@paolo

I left you some cold water after I took my showers, if you need. I did.
Gianni says:

Jun 8 2011 at 12:22 am

@Alpin
Fantastic shots, thanks for letting us see them all. Hmmmmmm, carbon bikes are cool. It's Campa from now on, this will be a tough habit to break.
paolo says:

Jun 8 2011 at 12:25 am

@Karolinka

Karolinkas used cold shower water..yumm.
Alpin says:

Jun 8 2011 at 12:55 am

@all

Thanks a lot for your comments : i think the terms "Bike Porn" and "Drool" are mostly appropriate ... even more when you can touch these ..things ))

For the Weather Forecast of today : Well, how can i put this?

Yesterday's one was bad, BAD... today, it's much badder... still raining frogs, (yum) ...the wind flows in the streets...and as the rain hasn't stopped this night, the ground is very slippery and wet... racers would want to take extra care not to crash today.... it's a quite uphill/dowhnill TT , and as we know TT bikes are not the most agile ones...

@Gianni

"The Vicenza component maker is often known as Campy by American fans. French riders call it "Campa" and the British say "Campag", with a hard G at the end." from INNRG...

stay with the original '-))

to pronounce Campagnolo
Alpin says:

Jun 8 2011 at 1:17 am

A little info about today's stage...

Is there any of you "worldwide" who manages to see some video footage LIVE or who knows if any TV channel records the race ?

French TV "France 3" streams 1h15 per day LIVE and some recaps but not all the race... (((

the stage