PREVIEW | Criterium du Dauphiné 2025 stage 6 - Pogacar vs Vingegaard vs Evenepoel in the climb that decided 2023 Tour

Stage 6 of the Criterium du Dauphiné will have a summit finish in Combloux, the climb in which Jonas Vingegaard won a lot of time on Tadej Pogacar back in the 2023 Tour de France's time-trial. Can he do the same? Will Pogacar take revenge? Will Remco Evenepoel hold on to the yellow jersey? We preview the day ahead.

As is usual, the race provides a lot of opportunities for the climbers. There will be three consecutive summit finishes, the first of which in Combloux - where Jonas Vingegaard won a large chunk of time on Tadej Pogacar back in the Tour's 2023 edition. This time around it is a summit finish, and one where we can see some important differences.

The start of the stage is not too hard and like all other mountain stages in the race, the distance is very short. The riders will mostly pay attention to the first 1st category ascent Mont-Saxonnex, which is 5.5Km at 8.6% and ends with 50 kilometers to go. However this won't be a decisive moment in the stage, most will look to save as much energy as possible for the final climb.

This will be the Côte de Domancy, but with a summit finish in Combloux just above, where the 2023 Tour rolled through. It's a climb that is 8.7 kilometers in total averaging just over 7%, but it is harder than it may seem. Everytime it is at the Tour de France or any other race, Domancy makes big differences in it's explosive 2.5 kilometers that average over 9% with multiple switchbacks.

It's an anaerobic climb where you can't do much pacing, and if attacks come you don't have time to recover either after the summit. The final 7 kilometers will mostly be around 5/6%, more manageable, but with a few sections that are steeper.

It will be a very interesting day of racing. Although it is the first of three days in the mountains, don't expect conservative riding. Until the final climb a lot of action isn't expected - because of the route's nature - but the ascent to Domancy is very difficult and often sees explosive attacks, which we could easily see from Tadej Pogacar.

Even if not I foresee a tense battle, an explosive one, and one where Pogacar and Vingegaard might be evenly matched. I would have them slightly above Remco Evenepoel, but definitely do not count him out taking into consideration he is lighter than he was one year ago. His form is good, but we will also have questions regarding his health after today's crash.

*** Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard
** Remco Evenepoel, Florian Lipowitz, Matteo Jorgenson, Santiago Buitrago
* Carlos Rodríguez, Lenny Martínez, Paul Seixas, Enric Mas, Guillaume Martin, Max Poole,

Pick: Tadej Pogacar

How: Sprint victory over Vingegaard