Critérium du Dauphiné 2024

Published: 28 May 2024

Critérium du Dauphiné 2024 overview

This week-long stage race falls just a couple of weeks before the start of the Tour de France, providing riders with one final tune-up before the biggest event of the season. With an individual time trial and a handful of gruelling stages through the high mountains, the Critérium du Dauphiné is, in many ways, a miniature Tour de France. Win here and you’ll no doubt go into the Grande Boucle as the big favourite to take yellow.

With Tadej Pogačar taking a break after his Giro d’Italia domination and Jonas Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike likely to skip the race as his recovery from injury continues, only two of the big favourites for this summer’s Tour will face off at the Dauphiné. Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) will be the standout candidates to take the win, but they will have to overcome a host of strong contenders along the way.

In the absence of Pogačar, UAE Team Emirates will hand leadership opportunities to Juan Ayuso and Pavel Sivakov, Ineos Grenadiers will have high hopes for Carlos Rodríguez and Visma-Lease a Bike will hope to retain the title through either Sepp Kuss or Paris-Nice winner, Matteo Jorgenson.

This year’s Critérium Dauphiné features one of the toughest parcours in years and looks set to be one of the most exciting in recent times, with the world’s best climbers pitted against each other in the mountains. Beginning with a flat stage on Sunday 2 June, the Critérium Dauphiné will feature one 34.3km individual time trial and five summit finishes before the race is decided on Sunday 9 June.

Critérium du Dauphiné​​ 2024 key information

When is the Critérium du Dauphiné​​ 2024? The race will begin on Sunday 2 June and conclude a week later on Sunday 9 June.

Where does the Critérium du Dauphiné​​ take place? The race takes place in the Dauphiné former province of France, which corresponds to the Rhône-Alpes department in the south-east of the country.

Who won the Critérium du Dauphiné​​ in 2023? Jonas Vingegaard won his first Critérium du Dauphiné title in 2023, with the Dane sweeping the floor with his competition over the course of the week to win two stages along the way and beat eventual second place Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) by over two minutes by the end of the race. Australia’s Ben O’Connor placed third for the second year in succession.

When did the Critérium du Dauphiné​​ start? The Critérium du Dauphiné began back in 1947 and owing to its long history and association with the Tour de France, the French stage race continues to be one of the most prestigious titles of the season for GC talents.

Who won the first Critérium du Dauphiné​​? The first edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné was won by Poland’s Edward Klabiński back in 1947.

Who has the most wins at the Critérium du Dauphiné​​? There are five riders who have all won three editions of the Critérium du Dauphiné in their illustrious careers, the latest of whom being Great Britain’s Chris Froome. The five-time Tour de France winner is joined in this esteemed list by Bernard Hinault, Charly Mottet, Luis Ocaña and Nello Lauredi.

Critérium du Dauphiné​​ 2024 route

© ASO

An overview of this year's Critérium du Dauphiné route

The 2024 Critérium du Dauphiné begins in the Allier department for the first time in the history of the race, with the sprinters set to contest the first yellow jersey of the race. It will be a day where all the fast men will be desperate to leave their mark, with the sprinters not having another chance at glory until stage 5 between Amplepuis and Saint-Priest.

In the intervening period, the general classification candidates and puncheurs will come to the fore, with uphill finishes on stages 2 and 3 followed by the 34.3km individual time trial on stage 4. By the end of this day, the GC will firmly established and tee up what should be an exciting but brutal end to the race.

As mentioned, stage 5 should end with a bunch sprint, but stages 6, 7 and 8 will be the toughest of the race, with all three days featuring over 3,300m of elevation gain. The shortest of the three days, stage 7, will challenge the peloton with a whopping 4,227m of climbing and end atop Samoëns 1600 for the first time in professional cycling history. This climb featured in four editions of the Tour de France through the 1980s, each time preceding a descent into nearby Morzine for the stage finish.

Read more: Critérium du Dauphiné route revealed with five defining uphill finishes

This year’s race will end the following day with a fifth and final summit finish, this time taking the riders to the Plateau des Glières at the end of a 158.8km-long stage.

Critérium du Dauphiné​​ 2024 contenders

Soudal Quick-Step’s Remco Evenepoel and Bora-Hansgrohe’s Primož Roglič will likely start the Critérium du Dauphiné as the two biggest favourites, with both men former Grand Tour champions and with a host of week-long stage race victories to their name. Both did, however, crash out of Itzulia Basque Country in March and have yet to race since.

The form of both, then, is unknown, leaving the door open for a winner to emerge from elsewhere. For both teams, there are able and willing deputies to call upon should Evenepoel or Roglič struggle, with the former having Mikel Landa in tow and the latter being supported by the handy duo of Aleksandr Vlasov and Jai Hindley.

All three riders will be gearing up for the Tour de France in July and have already produced strong performances this season, with all three taking podium finishes in WorldTour stage races over the past few months. It will be Vlasov who is most likely to take care of himself in the time trial, whilst Hindley and Landa will have to produce the goods in the mountains.

UAE Team Emirates will certainly make themselves known through Juan Ayuso and Pavel Sivakov, both of whom will hope to take advantage of the freedom that comes without Tadej Pogačar. It will be Ayuso who is most likely to challenge for the race win, with the Spaniard winning the ill-fated Itzulia Basque Country earlier in the year and backing that up with fifth in the Tour de Romandie.

Elsewhere, there are a host of names to look out for, including Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek), Giro d’Italia star Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) and Visma-Lease a Bike’s duo, Sepp Kuss and Matteo Jorgenson.

Teams of Critérium du Dauphiné​​ 2024

At this year’s Critérium du Dauphiné, although the likes of UAE Team Emirates, Ineos Grenadiers and Visma-Lease a Bike will reserve much of the attention at the start of the race, there are a whole host of teams ready to take the bull by the horns. On the start list will be all 18 UCI WorldTeams and four UCI ProTeams, all of whom you can find below.

UCI WorldTour

• Alpecin-Deceuninck
• Arkéa-B&B Hotels
• Astana Qazaqstan
• Bahrain Victorious
• Bora-Hansgrohe
• Cofidis
• Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
• dsm-firmenich PostNL
• EF Education-EasyPost
• Groupama-FDJ
• Ineos Grenadiers
• Intermarché-Wanty
• Jayco AlUla
• Lidl-Trek
• Movistar
• Soudal Quick-Step
• UAE Team Emirates
• Visma-Lease a Bike

UCI ProTeam

• Israel-Premier Tech
• Lotto Dstny
• Q36.5 Pro Cycling
• Uno-X Mobility

Critérium du Dauphiné​​ history

The race was created back in 1947 in an attempt to boost sales of a local newspaper, Le Dauphiné libéré. For many years the newspaper organised its own race, carving out one of the most brutal and action-packed week-long stage races on the pro cycling calendar. In 2010 the newspaper ceded all organisational responsibility to ASO, the company that also organises the Tour de France. ASO now uses this race as an opportunity to test out new parcours for its flagship race and as a chance to prepare the TV broadcasters for the onslaught that they’re going to face later in July.

They’re not the only ones to use the Critérium du Dauphiné as a preparation event however, in fact, this race has been the favoured warm-up race for the majority of Tour de France winners over the last 50 years. Since 2012, three British riders have won this race before going on to claim a Tour de France title in the same year - Bradley Wiggins (2012), Chris Froome (2013, 2015 and 2016) and Geraint Thomas (2018). These three riders are part of an elite group of Dauphiné-Tour winners that also includes the likes of Bernard Hinault, Jacques Anquetil and Eddy Merckx.

Over the race’s 75 editions, it’s France that has dominated, amassing no less than 30 overall titles. The home nation has struggled since the turn of the century, however, and is currently experiencing its longest drought in the history of the race with no Frenchman having won since Christophe Moreau in 2007. They have come close on several occasions though, with Thibaut Pinot and Romain Bardet - the great French hopes of the last decade - finishing runner-up in 2020 and 2016 respectively.

Since 2011, Ineos Grenadiers (formerly known as Team Sky) have dominated this race, winning seven of the previous 13 editions with riders such as Wiggins, Froome, Thomas and, most recently, Richie Porte in 2021. Last year it was Jonas Vingegaard who took the overall victory at this race, going one better than the second place he took behind teammate Primož Roglič in 2022.

For everything you need to know about the 2024 Critérium du Dauphine, from the history of the race to this year's route and start list, be sure to check out our dedicated race hub.

Major Races

See All

Date	Event	Class
29 Jun - 21 Jul	Tour de France	2.UWT
12 Aug - 18 Aug	Tour de France Femmes	2.WWT
2 Jun - 9 Jun	Critérium du Dauphiné	2.UWT
6 Jun - 9 Jun	Tour of Britain Women	2.WWT
9 Jun - 16 Jun	Tour de Suisse	2.UWT

Provided by FirstCycling