Preview Critérium du Dauphiné 2022 stage 7

You might think this is a Tour de France stage but not when you look closely. In fact, the grand majority of this day at the Critérium du Dauphiné is an exact replica of the Alpe d’Huez stage in this year’s Tour, however the finale will be in a different ski resort.

This will be a crucial stage for the overall classification, which will see the climbers go head to head for the first time and big gaps are set to be created.

The day starts off with the mythical Col du Galibier, which will be ridden via the Col du Lautaret. The riders will start the day already climbing gently, and the Galibier is an ascent that gets steeper towards the summit – at over 2600 meters of altitude. The race can be seriously attacked here, however the long descent will leave the riders in the next ascent.

Ridden via Saint Jean de Maurienne, the Col de la Croix de Fer is a very inconsistent climb, however a brutal one. In 2015 Nairo Quintana almost broke Chris Froome up these slopes, it’s an ascent cut into three sections where the gradients are much higher than the 5.2% average. The last 6.7Km have an average gradient of 8.2% and it goes above 2000 meters, so it’s definitely the most likely location for an attack if it comes in this ascent (which summits with 31 kilometers to go).

But it’s towards Vaujany that the riders will turn. Significantly easier than the Alpe d’Huez, however still hard in it’s own league. It’s a sharp climb, with an average that is lowered in the final kilometer where the riders head into the finish line. Most of the climb is in fact in gradients that come close – and at times overtake – the 10% mark.

CyclingUpToDate prediction:

**** Primoz Roglic

*** David Gaudu, Ben O'Connor

** Damiano Caruso, Jack Haig, Jonas Vingegaard

* Enric Mas, Brandon McNulty, Tao Geogheghan Hart, Wilco Kelderman