DISCUSSION | What are the expectations on Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel ahead of Criterium du Dauphiné?

The Criterium du Dauphiné is around the corner, kicking off tomorrow and featuring eight exciting stages with plenty of opportunities to make the difference.

Considered to be a key preparatory race for the Tour de France, it is riddled with top-class riders every year, and the 2025 edition is not an exception. The big 3 will be in attendance, so we will have the opportunity to enjoy a Pogacar-Vingegaard-Evenepoel battle, not a bad teaser of the Tour de France.

Apart from them, plenty of other superstars will also participate, such as Mathieu van der Poel, Florian Lipowitz, Matteo Jorgenson or Enric Mas, among many others.

As usual in our discussion posts, we have asked some of our writers to know what they expect about the first clash of the year between Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel.

Pogacar: Thinking preparation wise, in my opinion he doesn't have much reason to be here. In the past he's prepared for the Tour with nationals, Tour of Slovenia, no racing (last year with altitude only) and he's always arrived with ideal form. Last year with the Giro and altitude we got to see the best Pogacar ever, one who does not need racing to prime his form.

Taking this into consideration, taking on a brutal 8-day race three weeks before the Tour doesn't feel necessary. With only proper training, I think he'd arrive with the same form but less risk of cracking during the Tour or suffering from either physical or psychological fatigue.

But at the end of the day this is a very prestigious race that he does not yet have in his palmares, it is the traditional preparation race and he will want to face his rivals ahead of the Tour - alongside racing with his Tour block.

Vingegaard: For him a presence in the Dauphine makes full sense. It is a formula he's tried and worked to perfection twice in the past, Visma are sticking to what works. Not having raced since March now, it was also obvious. I expect very good form and a level around that of Pogacar.

The fight for the GC win can be very balanced honestly, maybe decided by the time trial as it won't be easy for neither to go clear on the climbs. Vingegaard will also want to win the race and get on top of Pogacar in the psychological battle into the Tour (especially if he wins the queen stage, which would once again create the threat that Vingegaard could just wait for the mountains).

Evenepoel: I stick with my opinion that last year he prepared for the Tour with perfection, that meant having some extra weight at the Dauphine which cost him in the mountains. He is coming in 1.5Kg lighter than last year, which means there should be less room for improvement after the race, but on paper a stronger climbing level already currently.

At his best he can contest the overall win, but I don't think he will have that level yet - also not the team, I must say, but that's not a problem of Quick-Step, it's the consequence of rival teams being so strong.

Evenepoel may very well win the time trial but then fit somewhere in the top 10 throughout the mountain stages and the overall classification. I would also expect him to attack in the first few days to try and surprise, and take a stage win.

There's a lot of anticipation to see the head-to-head between Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel, as it's unusual to have three names of this calibre taking part in a race other than a Grand Tour.

I'm curious to see if the work done by the Danish rider during his downtime will have brought him closer to the world champion. Pogacar is coming off a spring in which he was always at the top of his game and is the only one of the three who has already clocked up a lot of hours on the bike in competition this year.

Remco, on the other hand, has been out of action because of the accident he had in December, has only recently returned to competition and will be an unknown quantity. But we all know that these days a top cyclist doesn't need to compete much to be in good physical condition for a race.

Van der Poel is coming off a crash and wants to take a different approach to the Tour this year and could try something in the first few days of the competition. I want to see how he's doing, because I think he'll want to wear the yellow at the Tour again this year, and not just sprint for Jasper.

Another man I want to see is Jonathan Milan... for the obvious reasons. I'm looking forward to seeing the blocs of the main teams go head-to-head. Who will be the strongest? Probably the UAE. But it's the road that dictates things. We'll see. As for the rest of you... have fun. After all, that's why they're going to the Dauphiné.  

I think the Dauphiné will be less exciting than expected. The line-up of participants is promising, but I think the Big Three will take it relatively easy.

First up is Tadej Pogacar. To say that the world champion won't be going all out in a race is very bold, especially since he doesn't yet have the Dauphiné on his list of achievements and will want to win it. Although he could go on the attack in the opening stages, I feel that he won't really show up until the time trial on stage 4.

In the mountains, I don't expect any big attacks like he usually does either. The Tour de France is just around the corner, and his spring classics campaign was too intense. But, as I said, with Pogacar you never know. And that's why the Slovenian makes cycling so magical.

In second place is Jonas Vingegaard. The Dane has not competed since Paris-Nice, where he abandoned the race after a heavy fall. Although he himself has assured us that he is in top form, it has been almost three months since the Visma leader last competed.

It is likely to work in his favour that his team has just won the Giro d'Italia, and they will not be under as much pressure to win the overall classification in the Dauphiné, unlike UAE. Even so, in the mountains I am sure he will be the only one who can match Tadej Pogacar, and he will have a chance to defeat his arch-rival.

Finally, Remco Evenepoel. Although the Belgian made a spectacular comeback from his long injury, winning the Brabantse Pijl, the accumulation of races showed that he was far from his best, ending the spring campaign with a disappointing Tour de Romandie.

He was the favourite for the overall classification, and if it hadn't been for the final time trial, he would have almost missed out on the top 10. Last year he didn't do well in the Dauphiné either. I think he'll even struggle to finish on the podium in the general classification, but I hope I'm wrong. Luckily, the time trial on stage 4 could earn him a lot of points in the fight.

The last time we saw these three in the same race other than the Tour de France was… in 2022! (in La Flèche Wallonne, and none of them finished in the top 10, something unthinkable nowadays). We had to wait more than 3 years to see them in action together outside of the Tour, and considering it is the final race for them before la Grande Boucle, it is totally understandable that expectations are very high.

I have high expectations as well. When Pogacar is racing, you know he is not there just to get in shape for a future race. He is there to win and assert his dominance once again, especially if he is riding against his nemesis. And he has the additional incentive of adding Dauphiné to his almost endless palmarès, so he is not going to miss out on that if he can avoid it.

I disagree with Rúben and I think he actually has much reason to be here. Even if he never went to the Dauphiné in previous years, it is the best preparatory race for the Tour for a reason. Some of the stages are very similar to the ones he will face in one month, all of his GC rivals are participating and Pogacar has not raced since April.

He needs a big test to see whether his shape is how it should be and whether some adjustments need to be made. The Tour of Slovenia is nowhere near as exigent as Dauphiné and it would just be a walk in the park for him. And this year Vingegaard and Evenepoel seem in their best shape ever at this moment of the season according to their teams.

Also, it is a great test for the whole UAE team. The Dauphiné team is supposedly the same that will go to the Tour (with only Almeida missing as he is in the Tour de Suisse), and they have the perfect opportunity to try certain strategies or race in a certain way to see how it goes and fix the mistakes they identify.

Jonas Vingegaard is coming to Dauphiné after not having raced in almost three months, so he definitely needs this race. I expect him to be in top shape and being the only rider who could realistically beat Pogacar, as it has been the case in stage races the last years. I think it will be very close between those two, with the final GC being decided by small details, mostly bonus seconds and the time-trial.

A situation in which any of the two wins by a wide margin would raise the alarm and would be a significant indicator of what to expect at the Tour. Unlike UAE, he is not coming to Dauphiné with the full Tour squad, and I feel the overall level of his team is lower than UAE in this race. However, he will have Matteo Jorgenson by his side – a differentiating element that might play a huge role.

Jorgenson is an elite domestique who has already proven to be one of the best climbers, winning Paris-Nice twice in a row, finishing second in Dauphiné last year and 8th at the Tour. He is undoubtedly better than any of Pogacar’s domestiques, at least in top shape, and I expect him to play a pivotal role in the race.

Regarding Remco Evenepoel, his team has been trying to sound optimistic recently, arguing he is 1.5kg lighter than last year at this point, but I don’t think he will be able to be on the same level as Pogacar and Vinngegaard. He also doesn’t have the advantage of the team – which is significantly weaker than UAE and Visma.

The time-trial will most likely be the only place where he might dominate, and grabbing the leader jersey there is definitely possible. However, the last three days are very mountainous, and a top-3 would be the best result he can obtain.

I think the main question will be how far he will finish behind the other two, and also whether he will beat every other contender in the final GC, which should be easily doable especially because of the big advantage he has in the TT.

If that doesn’t happen, I think it would be an alarming sign before the Tour. His goal remains fighting for the overall win, so being beaten by someone else besides Pogacar and Vingegaard would mean he is too far from that objective.