Often it seems to be the case that the Dauphine needs some relative time to warm up before it gets into full swing. This is an unfair and inaccurate observation. Ah! But when the Dauphine begins, all of us are still just only beginning to come down from our high from following the Giro d’Italia that always goes out with a massive bang in the final week. This year, the Dauphine was actually a week early and the opening stage clashed with the Giro’s final day TT in Milan. Thus Lotto’s Brent Van Moer’s solo-break stage win on the opening day was not as exciting to us as it should have been—I was arduously editing my final stage report of the Giro as I watched. Nor was Bora’s Lukas Postlberger’s similar solo-break stage win the next day for I could not endure another cycling race. In both cases they just barely held off the peloton with Bahrain’s Sonny Colbrelli winning the sprint for second. Luckily, Colbrelli could not be denied on Stage 3, where he took victory. But I barely watched much of that Colbrelli stage until the very finish, too busy was I trying to get my life back in order after a three-week adventure in Italy. I was too busy to even watch any of the Stage 4 Time Trial that was surprisingly won by Alexey Lutsenko (Astana-Premier Tech). It was not until the very last kilometer of Stage 5 that the Dauphine started to suck me in and grab my attention. Until that point I had only been looking to see who was on good form for the looming Tour de France…the top answer was of course: Sonny Colbrelli for any sort of lumpy stage.
The difficulty this year was surely no break from after the unbridled Giro. But also from the fact that the French lumpy-stage profiles almost always prove to be more controlled affairs than similar Italian and Spanish profiles. Perhaps it is because the French climbs’ statistics always seem less fierce compared to their ballpark-equivalent Italian and Spanish counterparts: there are climbs labeled a Category1 in France that would honest-to-God be labeled a Category3 in Spain. But at the same time the climbs in France are often deceptively hard in the same vein as the Ardennes hills. But as I said, the Dauphine roared into life in its second half at the very end of Stage 5.
On an extremely acute hairpin turn with exactly 1km to go, Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) rode off the front of the peloton—who had lost all speed in the turn—to steal a march over all the sprinters. Once again, Sonny Colbrelli was the premier sprinter who chased Thomas down, and it came down to the photo. Ah! Ah! To see a star—a Tour winner like Thomas—surprise-attacking is always a thrilling affair. O! O! To see him fly and fly attempting to raid and deny Colbrelli again was exactly what the Dauphine needed to snap into life. Thomas sat up in the last few meters because he thought he had it, but Colbrelli was flying up like a jet much faster than Thomas could intuitively calculate! As Thomas was sitting up before crossing the line Colbrelli was even and below him with the bike throw. Thus, amid the celebratory post-up Thomas audibled to an embarrassing facepalm—ah! this was all such Geraint Thomas “luck”—by which I mean complete lack thereof. But the photo came back that Thomas had it after all. And with three mountain stages to come raced by riders on good form for the Tour, the Dauphine’s weekend had already begun.
But Stage 6 was not what we had expected. There were not too many fireworks to it, and yet we were engaged at the spectacle. Movistar, Team Movistar was riding the day to perfection! With Enric Mas, Alejandro Valverde, and newly-signed Superman Lopez all in attendance, none really knew what to expect from the top Spanish team. In the past their two-pronged attacks, or tridents of leaders have wilted or even crashed-and-burned. Their reputation for bad tactics must be over-exaggerated, because in many cases their leaders just do not have the legs to win the race. But, yes there are times where egos and personalities clash, cause friction, and crater team morale. But not on Stage 6 of this Dauphine. Instead they did everything right, including Superman Lopez riding on the front of the peloton on the final climb for Valverde the Green Bullet. Superman rode a hard tempo so that none had the ability to launch any flyer attacks, forcing only a sprint in the very final hundreds of meters. And only Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) could give old veteran Valverde a run for his money in that sprint finish. But Valverde finished off the job, and took a stage win of a World Tour race despite being over 40 years old. All appreciated this win at the very least, even those who do not love Valverde because of his checkered past. It was a great win, because all of us realize we shall not see many, or even any, more Valverde wins like this: for supposedly the Green Bullet is retiring at the end of this season. All of the joy associated with this stage win was not just from the win itself, but because it implies Valverde is on great form ahead of his last Tour de France.
And then we came to the Saturday and Sunday big-old proper mountain days of this Dauphine to finish it off with a bang. Yes, yes, the Dauphine is one of those races where everything can be turned on its head in the final day or two, because these last mountain days can properly break some riders. They really are always great shows and the perfect last mountain dress rehearsals for the French Grand Tour to come. They reveal who’s “got it,” and whose alarm bells should be ringing that they are behind the eight ball. Alas! Alas! In that latter group was the four-time Tour champion Chris Froome (Israel Start-Up Nation) as he has been all season. All I keep hearing is that “The numbers look good” and his training is going well. I can actually believe the power is still there, but I must finally question: Is it just the white on the Start-Up Nation uniform or is Froome heavier than previous years? Perhaps has he put on more muscle? If that is the case this seems to be severely affecting his climbing. Or perhaps is this last career venture with Israel Start-Up Nation a long-haul endeavor? Perhaps the numbers look good and are improving, but Froome knew after that severe crash he still needs more time—months or years—to build back to full strength, and thus he is just letting the tedious and torturous diet go for a season while he becomes accustomed to the peloton again? Everything I have just said is a complete hunch and conjecture on my part. But as a last word on the subject, I did see a headline that Chris Froome has stated he will not win the Tour this year. Alas! Alas! This Dauphine performance seems to confirm that, he has been dropped far too early on all of these stages, and there is not time to find massive more amounts of form.
Ah! But who were on good form, who were flying in this dress rehearsal weekend? Pleasantly, a name that has previously just been something seen on Startlists and results pages has become a new star. The Ukrainian Mark Padun (Bahrain Victorious) continued his team’s success when he won both weekend mountain stages back-to-back. Lower on General Classification on Stage 7, he began the final 17km-long La Plagne summit finish that averages 7.5% percent with the field. Much climbing had already been completed, all the legs were tired, and the top GC men were riding strategically for the Overall race win. Thus when Mark Padun attacked, only the American Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) went with him for a while. Ah! Ah! But even if Padun had been a GC threat, I fear no one was matching him this day—he was sensational riding up that La Plagne climb! Not only did he stunningly ride Sepp Kuss off his wheel for his pace was just too hot, when the GC battle finally erupted behind still they could not catch him. No, no, not Lutsenko in Yellow, not Tao Geoghegan Hart nor Geraint Thomas both on good form, not Bahrain teammate Jack Haig riding for the Overall, not Superman Lopez whose cape of good from was blowing in the wind, and not even Richie Porte (Ineos Grenadiers) who proved the best of the GC men this week dropping all his rivals to take the lead on GC at the top of this La Plagne climb.
Yes, yes, Mark Padun and Richie Porte would prove the biggest and most successful stars on this biggest of dress rehearsal weekends. On Stage 8, Padun got himself into the breakaway simply on the hunt for the King of the Mountains Jersey…which is not too prestigious of a prize outside of the Grand Tours. But on the penultimate climb of the day, the mighty and ferocious Col de Joux Plane, Padun went solo once more and lightning struck twice. He nailed the treacherous descent, and had minutes in hand for the final much-easier climb to the line where he took a second thrilling stage and instantly made himself into a household-name in all cycling households. Yes, yes, Mark Padun is a rising star. Ah! But Richie Porte proved this weekend that his star has not faded yet.
Low-key, Richie Porte has proven one of the best weeklong World Tour stage racers of his generation. This fact is often—or always—overlooked, because his accomplishments in the Grand Tours is relatively barren—save his well-earned and rewarding Tour podium last year. And though with BMC he did win some weeklong stage races, his stage race winning heyday has seemed firmly behind him. But this week he rolled back the clock to win this Dauphine that has eluded him for so long—it even slipped through his fingers once in past. Yes, yes, Porte said his return to the Ineos (former Sky) operation was to be a super-domestique for others for the last days of his career. Ah! But when he came out of the Time Trial in similar position to Geraint Thomas, Ineos kept things loose. With both riders in play, on that Stage 7 La Plagne climb, Porte was on a better day than Thomas, so Porte rode for himself and successfully rode every other GC man off his wheel to move in the race-leading Yellow Jersey. Then today, on Stage 8, he successfully defended that lead. The Grenadiers controlled most of the race for him, but he went over the top of the Joux Plane climb with only Geraint Thomas left to support him…and in typical Thomas fashion he crashed on a tight corner on the descent. Yes, for the last climb Porte was in a spot, with Superman Lopez and an Astana lieutenant, and Jack Haig trying to rip open a gap and find time to him on GC. But Porte proved consistent and did not let them ride away. Even in the closing kilometers, Geraint Thomas managed to ride back up to the GC group, despite his ripped-up shorts. Thomas went straight to the front of it to ride as high a pace as he possibly could so that no late attacks to steal time could even be attempted. When Porte crossed the line with the other top GC riders, he was the winner of the Criterium du Dauphine.
Thus the biggest dress rehearsal for the Tour de France is completed. One can review the racers with simple Pass/Fail grades: Who looked on good form to do damage at this Tour? Each frenzied cycling fan can give out their own subjective A’s and F’s for these riders whose final Tour preparation is now complete. Yes, yes, though there are now more routes towards it than ever before, upon the Dauphine’s completion all eyes now look towards Brest where the 108th Tour de France shall begin in three weeks’ time.
Cycling Odysseys 