Everything you need to know about the Critérium du Dauphiné

Critérium du Dauphiné
Sunday 8 – Sunday 15 June
France
1199.6km

There’s a yellow jersey, it’s a stage race in France, it’s run by ASO… but no it isn’t the Tour de France. It’s the race’s baby brother, the Critérium du Dauphiné, which acts as one of the key warmup races for next month’s big event.

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Stage	Date	Distance	Route	Terrain
1	Sun 8 June	189.2km	Domérat > Montluçon	Hilly
2	Mon 9 Jun	204.6km	Prémilhat > Issoire	Hilly
3	Tue 10 Jun	202.8km	Brioude > Charatonnay	Hilly
4	Wed 11 Jun	17.7km	Charmes-sur-Rhône > Saint-Péray	ITT
5	Thu 12 Jun	182.6km	Saint-Priest > Mâcon	Hilly
6	Fri 13 Jun	139.1km	Valserhône > Combloux	Mountains
7	Sat 14 Jun	132.1km	Grand-Algueblanche > Valmeinier 1800	Mountains
8	Sun 15 Jun	133.8km	Val-d’Arc > Plateau du Mont-Cenis	Mountains

For the first time since last year’s Tour de France, Tadej Pogačar, Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard will race each other at this year’s Dauphiné, in a full dress rehearsal for this year’s Tour. With that race just over a month away, this week in France will point towards the form we will see in July. While Pogačar has been his usual winning self in 2025, winning seven times, Vingegaard and Evenepoel have had their seasons affected by injury.

As is tradition, the Dauphiné will reach its crescendo in the Haute-Savoie, the home of some of the cheesiest dishes in the world. This is the land of the tartiflette, fondue, and raclette. Not that the riders will be eating anything this heavy, but some of the staff might very well do. Reblochon, Tome, Beaufort, and Abondance are all from the region. One to ponder during the 17.7km time trial on stage four.

The name of the climb apparently comes from mont des cendres – the mountain of ashes – which comes from a forest fire. The pass lies between the Cottian and Graian Alps, on the border between Italy and France. It comes close to the end of stage eight, and is 9.6km at 6.9%, so if there is still a race to be won, the moves will happen here. The Tour de France has been up it five times previously, but not since 1999.