Bardet's farewell, Van der Poel's debut and 2 French teams in need of wins: Who is going to the Dauphine?
Cycling
We know this weekend that the Dauphine will see the first meeting between Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel since last year's Tour. But who else is at the race?
The Critérium du Dauphiné marks Romain Bardet's farewell to professional cycling. The Frenchman's team, Picnic PostNL, announced today which riders they will be taking to this very emotional race.
Team Picnic PostNL line-up
Romain Bardet
Max Poole
Romain Combaud
Guillermo Martínez
Chris Hamilton
Bjorn Koerdt
Enzo Leijnse
Max Poole finished just outside the top 10 at the Giro, 11th overall
The successful duo from the Giro d'Italia will be in action at the Dauphiné: Bardet and Poole. After 3 hard weeks, Poole will most likely target stages, just like Bardet. For Bardet, winning a stage would be the perfect farewell, in a race where he has already made 2 podiums in the overall and won a stage in 2015.
The Frenchman may be looking ahead stage 3, which starts in his hometown of Brioude, with several 2nd and 3rd category mountains, as well as stage 6, which precedes the final weekend that is decisive for the overall.
The young Guillermo Martínez was a pleasant surprise in the Tour of Turkey, finishing 3rd overall, and his role should be to support the leaders, like Hamilton, who played a similar role in the Giro. Combaud, Leijnse and Koerdt will work on the flat terrain, with the latter having a chance to fight for the top 10 on some sprint days.
Alpecin has also released its line-up, and with one major surprise: Mathieu van der Poel has recovered from his wrist injury in time to compete.
Alpecin-Deceuninck line-up
Gianni Vermeersh
Xandro Meurisse
Johan Price-Pejtersen
Mathieu Van der Poel
Tobias Bayer
Lars Boven
Michael Gogl
It may sound strange, but Van der Poel will actually be making his debut in the Dauphiné, an attempt to change his approach to the Tour in order to get better results. In 2025, he has 4 victories, 2 of them in monuments, but the big unknown is his form, since he crashed in a mountain bike race recently and fractured his wrist. In theory, he has stages that are favourable to his characteristics, but for that he'll have to unload the sprinters.
Will we see a prime Mathieu van der Poel in France?
Vermeersh and Meurisse should be his right-hand men, as they were also with him, for example, in Tirreno-Adriatico. Gogl and Price-Pejtersen will be working on the flat terrain, with the Dane looking for an opportunity in the time trial of stage 4.
Cofidis has an important test in the Dauphiné, after a bad Giro (and a bad month of May in general) caused the team to fall out of the World Tour places. The summer period will be crucial.
Cofidis line-up
Emanuel Buchmann
Dylan Teuns
Oliver Knight
Paul Ourselin
Ludovic Robeet
Benjamin Thomas
Hugo Toumire
TotalEnergies will also race the Dauphiné with some ambitions, as they already have 9 victories in the competition in their history.
TotalEnergies line-up
Mathieu Burgaudeau
Pierre Latour
Anthony Turgis
Jordan Jegat
Emillien Jeannière
Fabien Doubey
Mattéo Vercher
🚨 Great news!@mathieuvdpoel has recovered sufficiently from his wrist injury and will line up this weekend at @dauphine.
— Alpecin-Deceuninck Cycling Team (@AlpecinDCK) June 5, 2025
Here’s our full lineup for the French WorldTour stage race, kicking off Sunday in Domérat!#AlpecinDeceuninck pic.twitter.com/xjPi1w0gdi
🔜 Rendez-vous dimanche sur les routes du @dauphine, répétition générale avant le #TDF2025 ! pic.twitter.com/PZELs2fsGI
— Team Cofidis (@TeamCOFIDIS) June 5, 2025
𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞́𝐫𝐢𝐮𝐦 𝐝𝐮 𝐃𝐚𝐮𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞́
— Team TotalEnergies (@TeamTotalEnrg) June 4, 2025
8 étapes, 1 contre-la-montre, 3 arrivées au sommet, 1201,9km à parcourir et 20 878m de dénivelé positif ❤️🔥
Nos sept coureurs pour affronter le gratin du peloton WorldTour ⚔️#Dauphiné | #AllezTotalEnergies ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/HbNvhZvr2X
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- wtf dudemij07-11-2026
- big rival … ridiculous.Ketterechts07-11-2026
- It would be great if the World Champion's jersey could be rotated among McNulty, Simmons, and Jorgenson. They threaded the needle perfectly. If each hadn't done exactly what he did, exactly when he did it, the race would have gone to one of the more heralded superstars. That said, how nice that this humble and hardworking guy gets his moment in the sun.
MarkFour07-11-2026 - This is a really interesting idea, which, if well prepared could even be very successful. Very little money needs to be involved for a first season and any success could lead to rapid interest from sponsors.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Hmmm, you seem to have a very convenient black and white view of things. Perhaps you haven’t been around much to discover how complex problems can become over time with people who know how to control, manipulate (or worse) others so gradually or subtly that you arrive at an irresolvable situation before you realise. This is how many inconveniences get introduced to the young, naïve, passionate or “desperate”, knowing they are not armed, protected or strong enough to defend themselves once it’s too late. Why do you think omerta culture is so widespread, why do you think so many people continue to go through so many awful things in life that others can’t understand anyone getting into? Life may be far more jolly for you but you would do well to understand (or reflect more on) the real world to refrain from being so quick to criticise those in a hard spot that may have genuine reason for speaking out.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Seriously do you think when somebody gets into a serious accident, the ambulance is called by the hurt person?🤦 there is always a buddy system in place for a risky job. police , firefighters etc so that if someone gets hurt, the other call that in.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I get the point totally. We live in the snowflake society where some riders forget they are getting paid to ride and get results. When they have a few issues they try to look outside of the real issue instead of themselves. It odd so many of the team are making no complaints and getting on with their job. If you do not like what you do find another job simples. Tough love as my mum would say.paultryan200207-11-2026
- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
- So gracious to offer something no-one would be prepared to pay for. The Giro is not the Tour and doesn’t command the same interest or attract the same “elite” (those willing to pay to be a part of something they consider has ego boosting potential). Roadside viewing will always largely remain free for everyone outside circuits. Introduction of a symbolic entrance to mountain climbs is worthy of exploration. Asking 1-2€ isn’t going to repulse real fans (most will spend 50-100€ on their outing that day all things included) but will prevent a portion of the total knobhead thrillseekers who will join in any large gathering as long as it’s free, just because they’re attracted to crowds, without which it it difficult for them to work up their anti-social behaviour.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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