Critérium du Dauphiné - Wiggo Wins the Wace!

(Originally published Sunday 12th of June)


An excellent day of racing for todays' Critérium du Dauphiné final stage, which saw 21-year-old FDJ rider Thibaut Pinot - who pushed himself to the limit from the word go - pass alone over the summit of the Col de la Croix de Fer, winning himself 20 points and a very well-deserved King of the Mountains title. This rider is going to be one to keep a very careful eye on over the next couple of years, especially if you happen to be a Grand Tour leadership contender at the moment. He climbs like Contador - and he's going to get better!

Contador et al would be wise to keep a very keen eye on this one - he has a big lump of stinky French cheese and he's not afraid to use it. He also climbs Alps like a rat climbs a drainpipe, which is even more worrying from Bertie's point of view.

BRADLEY WIGGINS WINS OVERALL!!!

Vive Wiggo!

Wiggins, who has already proved he's got what is required of a great rider despite a disappointing result in last year's Tour de France, can now rightfully claim to be among the most successful British riders ever and joins Brian Robinson (first British rider ever to complete a Tour de France) and Robert Millar (who, coincidentally, also completed a Tour in fourth place, thus becoming Britain's most successful Tourist until Wiggins achieved the same result) on the Dauphine winner list.. When one looks at some of the other names to have won the Dauphine, it becomes evident that Wiggins really is at the top of the game nowadays - Eddie Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Greg LeMond, Miguel Indurain and Lance Armstrong are the creme de la creme of the pro cycling world. In his own words: "Winning the Tour de France against Andy Schleck and Contador is a big call. The top 10 has always been the goal, but now with the confidence I got at the Dauphiné, the top 6 is the goal."


Meanwhile, Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez was the winner on points, amassing 86 as compared to 37-year-old Kazakh Alexander Vinokourov's 65 and Wiggin's 64. He also becomes the first rider to have won two stages in a row for over a decade. Cadel Evans achieved 45 points, putting him at number seven, but managed second place overall crossing the line 1'26" behind Wiggins and 23 seconds in front of Vino.


Among the young riders, Jérôme Coppel, aged 24, won overall with a time of 26h 48' 04". The Soar-Sojasun rider has already proved his worth in the time trialing world having won numerous French events and placing in the top 3 in international races. While admitting that he didn't feel strong today, he's promising to be better next month - any young rider who turns in a performance such as he did today when not at his best and with a record such as his is very obviously developing into an impressive all-rounder and the French must be hopeful that he'll be the man that lets them once again feel pride in French cycling.

Jérôme Coppel - future Tour de France victor? We hope so.

Rodriguez also won in the climber's competition with 63 of his total points being awarded on the slopes.  Pinot, though winning the King of the Mountains title today, placed 7th with 33 grimpeur points. Interestingly, Wiggins, considered a rouleur but not an especially impressive climber, managed 10th over this highly mountainous course. With this year's Tour de France being more about climbing than usual, he may do very well for himself and we'll perhaps see a return to the form that impressed us all in 2009.


In the team competition, Europcar won with 80h 22' 25", Astana were +10' and AG2R La Mondiale + 10' 19". With the exception of that first ten minute gap and 9' 17" between AG2R and HTC-Highroad, it was an incredibly close-run race among the teams and suggests some gritty battles in the Tour next month.


It's been a superb Dauphine this year. Can we use the results to make predictions for le Tour? From a British point of view, let's hope so. The wise will be paying close attention to Fabian Cancellara and, most importantly of all, Andy Schleck before betting their July pay cheque on a British winner though.

Critérium du Dauphiné

Since it's ignored by the mainstream British press, many people are unaware that the 63rd Critérium du Dauphiné has been in progress for the last week - a pity, because it's a spectacular and important race. It also provides an interesting chance to predict performances in the upcoming Tour de France and a sneak preview of the bikes as the teams and manufacturers put their new technology to the test on the grueling mountain stages. The chance to predict Tour performances is of particular interest this year due to the impressive rides put in by British rider Bradley Wiggins who is currently in the lead with a 1'26" advantage over Australian Cadel Evans in second place.

Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.

31-year-old Wiggins, who was born in Belgium but has lived in the UK since childhood, finished the 2009 Tour de France in fourth place on Mont Ventoux in 2009 and, with a long list of excellent results to his name (bronze in the 2000 Olympics, gold/silver/bronze in the 2004 Olympics, a brace of golds in the 2008 Olympics, an assortment of stage wins over the last three years) leading many people - myself included - to predict that we'd have the first ever British winner in 2010's Tour. However, it wasn't a good race for the Team Sky leader and he managed 24th overall, describing his 2009 success as "a fluke." Still, I didn't put money on him; nor shall I be doing so this year: a look at the points awarded for climbing in the Dauphiné reveals Wiggo isn't even in the top ten and the 2011 Tour is going to be even more all about the climbers than Tours usually are. A couple of stage wins during the early stages when the riders can concentrate on speed in the flatlands of Northern France may well be on the cards though - and a few Wiggins versus Cavendish battles for supremacy in the final kilometre would be nothing short of spectacular.

Joaquim Rodriguez is
worth watching

Today's stage, the last of the race, is a short one at just 117.5km but after a relatively easy first 53km, the riders have two serious climbs with which to contend. The first is the 2067m ascent of the Hors catégorie
Col de la Croix de Ferre from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in the beautiful Savoy region, featuring a grinding 29.5km with a 5.5% average gradient - and a few 9.5% sections thrown in just in case the riders aren't suffering sufficiently. This is followed by a descent of some 14km, which should offer some high speed action as riders seek to let gravity take the strain and give their burning legs a break, before they face another steep climb to reach the finish 1703m above sea level at La Toussuire with the final 14.4km averaging 5.9%. A strong climber - such as Joaquim Rodríguez, currently in 6th place overall 3'01" behind the lead but in second place among the climbers and leading on overall points - could theoretically break Wiggo's hold. Unlike the Tour, in which the overall winner is often revealed several stages from the end, nothing is yet concrete in this year's Dauphiné and that'll make for some great racing today.


Rodriguez may be in 6th overall, but he'll doubtless be glad - the 32-year-old Katusha rider made the decision to take part at the last moment following his 5th place success in the Giro d'Italia. He'll be worth watching next month in France.


The fun starts at 13.25 CEST (12.25 BST) - as ever, it won't be on British TV but you can follow the action live at the Dauphine website or you can watch it live in French on sport.francetv. Links to live video in other languages (none of them English, unfortunately) and delayed video (including English) available from steephill.tv.