After their Tour de France plans were momentarily cast into doubt by a nasty crash at the Itzulia Basque Country earlier this year, both Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel have been announced by the Criterium du Dauphine's official pages to be making their return to racing at the traditional Tour de France prelude.
Evenepoel, who suffered a fractured collarbone and a fractured scapula in the crash, has recently been seen training in the Sierra Nevada with teammate Mikel Landa, who will more than likely be the last Soudal - Quick-Step man to help Evenepoel in the mountain stages. Roglic meanwhile, came off slightly better in the Itzulia Basque Country, suffering 'only' a number of cuts, scrapes and bruises in the incident.
The worst affected by the crash however, was another of the so-called Big 4 of Grand Tour cycling, Jonas Vingegaard. The two-time, back-to-back and defending Tour de France winner was left with a lengthy spell in hospital post-crash suffering from a fractured collarbone, fractured rib(s) and a pneumothorax. Although the Dane of Team Visma | Lease a Bike has recently been spotted back on his bike and sporting a new tattoo in Mallorca, Vingegaard has not been announced by the Dauphine.
Alongside the aforementioned Evenepoel and Roglic though, an all-star list of general classification contenders are set to battle it out for the Maillot Jaune at the traditional warm-up race for the Tour de France including Sepp Kuss (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), Carlos Rodriguez (INEOS Grenadiers), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain - Victorious) and Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team).
The 2024 Criterium du Dauphine takes place between the 2nd of June and the 9th of June, with the Tour de France following just 20 days later.
🤩 Le #Dauphiné, une affaire de grimpeurs ! Bataille en haute altitude à prévoir à partir du 2 juin ! Qui est votre favori ? 👀 Les principaux engagés : bit.ly/44X0ddf 🤩 The #Dauphiné is almost all about climbers! High altitude battle expected! Who's your favourite?…
