Professional Continental teams with Tour de France starts also invited to week-long warm up race
The organiser of the Critérium du Dauphiné, ASO, has announced the list of teams that will be invited to the mountainous stage race this coming June. As part of the International Cycling Union (UCI) WorldTour, the eighteen ProTeams are automatically invited to the week-long race, and the organiser has also extended invitations to four second division Professional Continental teams.
Since it is also the organiser of the Tour de France, it comes as no surprise that the four teams invited are the same ones that will line up for the big race three weeks later. Three of the teams are French, with Cofidis, Europcar, and Saur-Sojasun finding favour as usual; the fourth one however, has been awarded to Dutch team Argos-Shimano, which will no doubt come as another disappointment to France’s fourth ProConti team Bretagne-Schuller.
The race will begin on June 3rd with a 5.7km prologue time trial in the Isère department capital, Grenoble, before taking in a variety of flat and mountain stages. As usual, the race should attract riders hoping to hone their form, ahead of the Tour de France, but also those looking for a preview of what will be their season’s biggest target.
The stage 4 time trial, taking in 53km between Villié-Morgon and Bourg-en-Bresse, will offer riders the rare opportunity to ride against the clock for a similar distance to that in the Tour’s penultimate stage; while the following day’s 186.5km between Saint-Trivier-sur-Moignans and Rumilly will give riders a chance to experience the climb of Le Grand Colombier, which will feature in the Tour for the first time this July.
The 2011 edition was won by champion Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) (pictured), making the British rider one of the hot favourites for the Tour de France. Unfortunately, his - and many others’ - plans were scuppered by a first week crash that saw him fracture his collarbone.
Critérium du Dauphiné (WT) June 3rd-10th
Invited Teams
Eighteen ProTeams
AG2R La Mondiale
Astana Pro Team
BMC Racing Team
Euskaltel-Euskadi
FDJ-BigMat
Garmin-Barracuda
GreenEdge Cycling Team
Katusha Team
Lampre-ISD
Liquigas-Cannondale
Lotto Belisol Team
Movistar Team
Omega Pharma-Quick Step
Rabobank Cycling Team
RadioShack-Nissan
Sky Procycling
Team Saxo Bank
Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
Four Professional Continental “Wildcard” Teams
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne
Saur-Sojasun
Team Europcar
Team Argos-Shimano
Stages
Sunday 3 June: prologue - Grenoble ITT, 5.7km
Monday 4 June: stage 1 - Seyssins to Saint-Vallier 187km
Tuesday 5 June: stage 2 - Lamastre to Saint-Félicien, 160km
Wednesday 6 June: stage 3 - Givors to La Clayette, 167km
Thursday 7 June: stage 4 - Villié-Morgon to Bourg-en-Bresse ITT, 53km
Friday 8 June: stage 5 - Saint-Trivier-sur-Moignans to Rumilly, 186.5km
Saturday 9 June: stage 6 - Saint-Alban-Leysse to Morzine, 166.5km
Sunday 10 June: stage 7 - Morzine to Châtel, 126km