The 76th edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné, a traditional dress rehearsal before the Tour de France, will feature a muscular summit finish in Samoëns during the penultimate stage before the final outcome the next day on the Glières plateau.

The Dane Jonas Vingegaard, outgoing winner and double winner of the Tour de France, the Belgian Remco Evenepoel and the Slovenian Primoz Roglic should be at the start of this eight-stage event from June 2 to 9, the route of which was presented on Thursday in Lyon.

If the Dauphiné makes it possible to gauge the state of form a few weeks before the Tour de France, this year it will not take the same roads as the peloton on the Grande Boucle (June 29-July 21) which will exceptionally arrive in Nice in 2024, because of the Olympic Games in Paris.

The Dauphiné sets off on June 2 from Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule, in Allier. The first highlight for the favorites should be the 34.4 km time trial between Saint-Germain-Laval and Neulise during the fourth stage, over a distance equivalent to the last time of the Tour de France.

Saturday’s main stage ends with a unique climb to Samoëns 1600, a very difficult 10 km climb at 9.3%. Previously, the runners will have to climb the Cols des Saisies, Col des Aravis, La Colombière and the Côte d’Arâches for a voluminous total of 4,268 m of positive altitude difference.

The last day offers three first category climbs, the Forclaz-de-Montmin, the Salève and the final climb to the Plateau des Glières (9.4 km at 7.1%), a mecca of the Resistance during the Second World War, where the Tour de France took place in 2018 and 2020.

The stages of the 76th edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné (June 2-9):

1st stage: Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule (Allier) – Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule 174.8 km

2nd stage: Gannat (Allier) – Col de la Loge (Loire), 142 km

3rd stage: Celles-sur-Durolle (Puy-de-Dôme) – Les Estables (Haute-Loire), 181.2 km

4th stage: Saint-Germain-Laval (Loire) – Neulise (Loire), individual clm of 34.4 km

5th stage: Amplepuis (Rhône) – Saint-Priest (Rhône), 200.2 km

6th stage: Hauterives (Drôme) – Le Collet d’Allevard (Isère), 173.2 km

7th stage: Albertville (Savoie) – Samoëns (Haut-Savoie), 145.5 km

8th stage: Thônes (Haute-Savoie) – Plateau des Glières (Haute-Savoie), 152.5 km

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