PREVIEW | Criterium du Dauphiné 2025 stage 8 - Is there anyone who can beat Tadej Pogacar?

From the 8th to the 15th of June the riders take on the Criterium du Dauphiné. Not only is this race usually the biggest preview ahead of the Tour de France, but it will also have the presence of Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel. We preview stage 8.

The final stage of the race is not as difficult as those that come before it, but it's by no means an easy challenge. The final 133 kilometers will mostly have an uphill trajectory, which means the riders will already arrive at Mont-Cenis fatigued. Whilst the climb is not as hard, the fatigue from the week, day, and the altitude may compensate for it.

The starting kilometers have two categorized climbs where the breakaway should settle in before starting the main climbing part of the day. This will consist of three 'warm up climbs' before Mont Cenis. They will be 6.7Km at 6.7%; 2.5Km at 7.5% and 6.3Km at 6.1%. The last of which ends with 32 kilometers to go, not a lot, and there is no descent that follows.

The final climb to Mont Cenis then, besides going up to 2000 meters of altitude, is 9.7 kilometers long at 7%. The climb itself finishes with 5 kilometers to go, and the riders will then race through the lakeside for that flat finale all the way into the finish.

We will have quite a lot more wind from the west, which can come as a crosswind and tailwind late in the day before the final climb. The weather will not be good, with rain and thunderstorms possible, but the riders will not really be tackling descents that will become dangerous because of it.

Tadej Pogacar - There is little that needs to be said honestly, Pogacar is above the rest and if nothing weird happens he will win the stage - unless UAE decides to not go after it. He is the strongest on the short climbs, on the long climbs, and in case it comes down to a sprint. Ultimately, no I don't believe something can be done at the time for him to lose this dominance.

Jonas Vingegaard will likely try if he has the legs, although it must be said, if that isn't what Pogacar already does to begin with. If anything changes within the Top10 it would only be from positions 6 to 10 potentially, there are some small gaps, but that's a minor fight ultimately and it won't be for the stage win.

Breakaway - The only way for Pogacar to realistically not win this stage is if a breakaway succeeds - something that won't happen if UAE is interested in controlling the race. Still, we have quality riders who will certainly try and will want to make the task hard for anyone who would want to work behind.

Whilst a day for the climbers, it's not necessarily the pure climbers as a few riders can handle efforts like this and also ride well on the flat roads. Bruno Armirail and Maxim van Gils appear to be two riders in excellent form for example, who could perform on a day like this. The Frenchmen Romain Bardet, Aurélien Paret-Peintre and Alex Baudin will be men to watch; Santiago Buitrago and Alexey Lutsenko should also have the freedom to give it a shot; whilst Visma will likely want to try and give one of their domestiques a reward for their current good form if they can seize it, such as Sepp Kuss and Ben Tulett.

*** Tadej Pogacar
** Jonas VIngegaard
* Florian Lipowitz, Remco Evenepoel, Tobias Johannessen, Carlos Rodríguez, Paul Seixas, Enric Mas, Bruno Armirail, Maxim van Gils, Romain Bardet, Alex Baudin, Sepp Kuss, Ben Tulett

Pick: Tadej Pogacar

How: Solo win, statistically speaking that remains the likely scenario.