With the race in PTHC, we’ll not see here the recordwinner of this race, the one and only Taylor Phinney, who won the race for the first time in 2013, and for the last time in 2021, 5 times in total. The Brit also won 14 stages of the race. Another notable former winner who’s not here is Rein Taaramäe, his 5 stages and 2 Gcs.
But enough talked about the past, let’s get to the present, and this year’s edition.
One 5,8 km prologue, two not-that-flat stages, two hilly stages, one hilly time-trial and two mountainous stages await our riders. The two last stages, with their mountaintop finishes, should decide the GC between the best all-rounders.
GC favorites
Name
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Joseph Dombrowski
70
84
75
71
80
78
78
60
75
67
72
71
Justo Tenorio
67
83
75
79
77
75
78
58
66
83
67
78
Mattia Cattaneo
70
82
70
79
76
80
80
51
70
62
64
79
Tim Wellens
72
82
75
72
79
80
76
63
68
64
70
72
Orluis Aular
68
81
72
70
76
75
77
63
69
67
71
70
George Bennett
67
81
76
65
75
74
79
65
73
55
63
65
Pavel Sivakov
69
80
72
76
79
77
82
66
69
66
74
75
Timofey Kritskiy
71
80
71
76
72
70
69
64
61
64
58
75
Patrick Schelling
71
80
75
72
75
76
73
58
70
67
72
71
Louis Meintjes
71
80
78
71
77
76
78
61
69
71
74
71
Rasmus Guldhammer
67
80
76
70
73
74
72
69
75
70
64
70
Pierre Paolo Penasa
70
80
74
70
75
72
77
57
76
68
64
70
Thibaut Pinot
72
80
74
65
76
79
75
62
69
72
67
65
Kevin Inkelaar
64
80
70
64
75
76
79
60
74
69
69
64
Do some names in this list sound familiar? Well, it’s probably because the 2022 Vuelta winner, Dombrowski, his here. The American is the best climber in the race, and even though he’s not the best time-trialist, he remains decent, and showed in Spain that he can ride alone fairly well when there’s some hills to pass.
No Kudus to fight with him in France, but the opposition shouldn’t be any weaker. Tenorio should be able to put on a good show: his very good in the mountains, a great time-trialist and not bad in the hills! Moreover, the Spaniard has great support, the first of them being the Vuelta’s best young rider Inkelaar, who will again be in contention for this jersey. Cattaneo and Wellens obviously also have a shot at the GC lead, both being in an excellent physical condition, being great climbers, and either great on the TT bike or in the hills. Cattaneo even has a decent shot on the first leader’s jersey, as he’s one of the best prologue riders here in France.
This list does have a other great climbers in it, who could pretend on the final win. The final classification will probably depend on whether they fare good in the time-trial.
The young ones
Name
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
SP
AC
FG
DH
PR
Pavel Sivakov
69
80
72
76
79
77
82
66
69
66
74
75
Kevin Inkelaar
64
80
70
64
75
76
79
60
74
69
69
64
Pascal Eenkhoorn
71
78
73
69
76
77
80
64
71
69
67
75
Brandon McNulty
71
78
72
75
73
75
75
64
67
70
67
73
Tobias Foss
69
78
72
76
77
79
79
60
69
68
66
72
Jamal Hibatullah
68
77
72
63
69
66
71
60
70
64
65
57
James Fouche
66
76
73
69
71
72
75
61
73
73
65
69
Mushin Misbah
67
75
69
73
74
72
72
62
68
70
70
72
Harm Vanhoucke
70
75
71
70
69
71
74
67
68
72
70
71
Muhammad Abdurrahman
68
75
71
70
73
73
72
60
68
74
64
70
Ide Schelling
71
75
71
68
74
73
70
62
67
72
67
70
Alexander Evans
65
75
71
72
69
71
71
57
67
67
62
69
Two riders clearly have a cut on the others for this classification: Sivakov and Inkelaar. With superiors time-trial and puncheurs skills, the Russian is the main favorite of the two. Moreover, he’ll be leading his team, while Inkelaar should be the lieutenant of his leader, Tenorio. Still, the Dutchman won the U25 classification the La Vuelta, and is on a good streak.
The others will have to rely on two good time-trials or on daring attacks to take the lead. Exactly what offered the win to Inkelaar a week ago.
The sprinters
Two stages theoretically are for the sprinters: the 2nd and the 6th. While the first shouldn’t pose too much problem, even with all its bumps, the second one has a nasty uphill finish. Moreover, it comes right ahead of two mountains days.
Anyway, there is quite a field of sprinters who are here for stage glory.
Name
FL
HI
ST
RS
RC
SP
AC
Ivano Lo Cicero
70
62
68
60
76
82
75
Artem Samolenkov
74
64
75
71
78
81
79
Mustafa Carsi
70
55
66
69
73
80
82
Elias Afewerki
73
64
77
70
81
79
80
Xhuliano Kamberaj
75
69
73
73
78
79
78
Sebastian Lander
77
69
77
72
79
79
77
Alvaro Hodeg
72
65
69
74
70
79
78
Riccardo Minali
73
58
70
74
79
79
79
Emiliano Contreras
72
68
73
75
77
78
80
Bas Van der Kooij
73
69
75
74
83
78
77
Itamar Einhorn
73
61
70
71
73
78
76
Emils Liepins
73
66
73
68
77
78
79
Rüdiger Selig
70
64
71
66
73
78
79
The veteran Lo Cicero doesn’t have the physical capacities of his prime, but he remains a top sprinter when it comes to this art. With a smart ride, he could still be one of the favorites. Samolenkov his right in his prime. He still has the legs to be dominant in the two sprinting stages, and does not as bad in the small climbs that his opponents. Carsi could be a bit short in the physical side of things, but he still has a good acceleration capacity, which could, with good positioning, put him in an excellent position. He also has the best leadout here, with Liepins.
In general, the flat stages should be hard battle to fight
Well, the team managers seem to have reached the same conclusion as me, as the field is not that strong, with Vakoc and Müller being the only biggest names on the field (if we exclude GC contender Meintjes).
It remains to be seen how much freedom all of this guys will be given to attack, as they might be assigned with the task of protecting their respective leaders.
The time-trialists
Name
FL
MO
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
PR
Soren Kragh Andersen
81
62
65
70
77
78
72
83
Niklas Larsen
77
60
68
74
74
73
78
80
Mattia Cattaneo
70
82
70
79
76
80
80
79
Steven Lammertink
74
64
69
80
70
76
70
79
Lasse Norman Hansen
77
59
65
77
74
73
70
79
Justo Tenorio
67
83
75
79
77
75
78
78
Tushantha Rajapakshage
72
64
70
76
71
72
68
78
Victor Campenaerts
71
54
69
78
71
73
72
78
Truls Engen Korsaeth
73
56
60
77
71
71
70
78
Rei Onodera
74
66
69
78
75
74
71
75
Flat beast Andersen is the grand favorite for the opening prologue in Grenoble, and to take the first leader’s jersey, even though on such a short distance, everything is possible, and one slightly bad day could make all wrong. Larsen should be his main contenders, though GC riders like Cattaneo or Tenorio might be tempted to make a coup right at the beginning. It’ll all rely on team strategy to be fair, though the following stages are somewhat easy.
It’s harder to predict how much impact will the bumps have in the 35,8 km ITT on stage 4. The finish is flat or downhill, so that might help, and the climbs not to steep, but that might already hurt guys like Lammertink, the best pure time-trialist up here. Overall, Cattaneo and Tenorio might indeed be the favorites with this stage.
Well, I think I didn’t forget anything. Have a good day in Grenoble – one of the capitals of the Alps, we’ll see more than once this week, and we’ll see each other tomorrow.
Ah, I remember that Grenoble TT well from my first PCM back in 2011. I had a winning strategy for it then. Not sure it still holds up.
Busy part of the season for us apparently. We really picked our spots with Guldhammer this year, and even did some weird thing with his schedule due to the influx of climbers in PCT. Dauphine ends up being one of his only pure GC stage races on the docket. All told, I think the parcours suit him decently enough. Some punchy finishes to gain a few seconds, and the mountain stage aren't too long. No flat TT, although any TT of that length will be factor against him.
I think I'd be happy with a top 10 and a few stage results here. Hopefully we factor in despite the really deep field. And if Lander can do something too in a weak sprint lineup, that would be cool too.
Thanks for the phenomenal preview!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Well, I think I didn’t forget anything. Have a good day in Grenoble – one of the capitals of the Alps, we’ll see more than once this week, and we’ll see each other tomorrow.
We'll probably enter the final two days with a sizeable deficit on Tenorio and Cattaneo. But Dombo in Vuelta form might be able to cause some fireworks.
I think i'm in this race but I've got to wait for the startlist to confirm it since if i am, my squad here is absolutely rubbish. Probably Khodayari as our leader here iirc.
We're here for the prologue with Kragh, and then I'm curious to see if Foss can ride for a GC top 20, or if he will be passive. Hope to see him try his best for a top 20, as it would be cool to see him ride as a GC rider.
Lammertink could grab a solid stage result in the TT, but as the preview points out, it's very dependent on how the rolling terrain affects his performance. Should be an interesting race, as Dombrowski will loose time in the TT and needs to attack on the mountain top finishes. Should at least make for two very exciting stages to end the race
Wow, great to claim the win, eventhough that was a surprise winner! Happy to have Lammertink in yellow. Looks difficult to keep yellow until the TT, but surely that must be a goal, if that can also help Lammertink in the TT and his performance.
Trying to somehow rationalize this, but nope. Impossible. What a stupid, illogical turn of events. They just let a split go on flat road and threw away our GC entirely. Season destroying moment and there's absolutely no way to justify it. I'd be livid if I didn't come to expect this kind of random stupidity from PCM. We turned crashes off years ago. This isn't supposed to happen.
Sorry for the negativity, good report Imladrik
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
1.) Fall out of GC contention
2.) Pace the entire next stage
3.) Be in the perfect position going into the finale
4.) Sit up right before the final sprint
Glad to see the plan's working perfectly
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
