Having spent a couple of weeks in May training from the same base on Mount Teide in Tenerife, the 2013 and 2014 Tour de France winners, Chris Froome and Vincenzo Nibali, are reunited from Sunday in the Alps, where both race the Critérium du Dauphiné, which in recent years has become an obligatory element in any successful attempt to win the Tour de France.
The Dauphiné marks the beginning of the final countdown to the Tour, which starts this year in Utrecht on 4 July; both Froome and Nibali and the bulk of their support riders for the Tour have spent two weeks in the single hotel at the top of Mount Teide – independently but certainly not coincidentally – in order to reap the benefit of training at high altitude during a sizeable block of time away from racing.
While Sir Bradley Wiggins won the Dauphiné in 2012 en route to the Tour, and Froome emulated him a year later, last year Froome and Nibali enjoyed mixed fortunes in the eight-day French event. Nibali was visibly riding to a plan, refusing to commit fully at key moments to save his strength before eventually finishing 10th, while Froome dominated the first part of the race before struggling after a crash.
“My Tour de France experience has taught me that going too well at the Dauphiné is never a good thing,” Nibali said this week. “In 2012 I lost nine minutes on one stage but finished third overall in the Tour. Last year wasn’t too bad either. I only lost a few seconds compared to Froome and Contador but I felt that I ended the race in crescendo.”
The other two big favourites for the Tour, Alberto Contador and Nairo Quintana, are absent, with the Colombian continuing to prepare on home soil, while the Spaniard rests after winning the Giro d’Italia. Other potential contenders include the American Andrew Talansky – winner in 2014 at the end of an anarchically enthralling final stage – Ireland’s Daniel Martin, France’s Romain Bardet and the British Yates brothers, Simon and Adam.
As usual, the race reflects what will await the Tour riders in July. There is no individual time trial, but instead there is a team time trial on day three, which is of a similar distance to the equivalent stage in the Tour. Two days later, a 161km mountain stage to the Pra-Loup ski resort traces exactly the same roads that the Tour will cover on stage 17 on 22 July, while the final stage includes the Lacets de Montvernier, a new first-category ascent which figures in the Tour’s 18th stage.
