How to Watch the Critérium du Dauphiné—a.k.a. the "Mini Tour de France"

topshot cycling fra dauphine stage7
How to Watch the Critérium du Dauphiné 2023MARCO BERTORELLO - Getty Images


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The 75th Critérium du Dauphiné starts this Sunday with a 157.7km circuit race in Chambon sur Lac, and we can’t wait! This 8-day mini-Tour de France offers everything we love about its larger, more prestigious cousin, including several of the Tour’s top contenders, stages that offer something for every kind of rider, and even a yellow leader’s jersey that matches the Tour de France maillot jaune.

It’s also a race that has favored Americans. Five have won the prestigious event in its 74-year history, and we won’t be surprised if one of the United States’ biggest young talents makes it six by the time race wraps-up in Grenoble next Sunday.

Everything you need to know about the 2023 Critérium du Dauphiné

This year’s Dauphiné covers 1207km (748mi) over eight stages. The race opens with two hilly stages for puncheurs, followed by a chance for the sprinters to take a victory on Stage 3 (although a Category 4 climb 20km from the finish line could ruin their plans). Stage 4 brings the race’s only time trial, an undulating 31.1km race against the clock that should force the first major sorting of the General Classification.

Then the race heads to the mountains for a series of stages that get progressively harder from one stage to the next. Stages 5 and 6 both feature several categorized climbs in the final 40km of each stage. But the worst is saved for the weekend: Stage 7 jams 4,000m of climbing into just 147km of racing including the Dauphiné’s highest-ever summit finish, atop the 2,067m Col de Croix de Fer, and Stage 8, a 152.8km stage filled with six categorized ascents, concludes with a steep climb to the finish line at the Bastille outside of Grenoble.

Expect the race to go to a true all-arounder, someone who can stay out of trouble during the opening few stages, handle the time trial on Stage 4, and then dominate in the mountains on the closing weekend.

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ALAIN JOCARD - Getty Images

How to Watch

NBC’s Peacock ($4.99/month) streams all events organized by ASO, which means you can watch the Dauphiné and then the Tour de France in July. If you’re looking for ad-free coverage, you’ll need a subscription to Peacock Premium Plus, which runs $9.99 a month.

If you’re in Canada, FloBikes ($12.99/month) is the best way to watch the Tour of Spain, with all 21 stages available live and on-demand on FloBikes.com, the FloSports IOS app, and the FloSports app for Amazon FireTV, Roku, and Apple TV.

If you still have cable and prefer conventional viewing on your television, you can catch Stages 1 and 8 on CNBC. Live coverage usually starts around 9 a.m. ET.

What Happened Last Year

As it often does, last year’s Dauphiné gave us a preview of what would happen a few weeks later at the Tour de France, albeit with a different winner. Jumbo-Visma dominated the race from start to finish, with Slovenia’s Primož Roglič winning the General Classification, Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard winning a stage and finishing second overall, and Belgium’s Wout van Aert taking two stages and the green jersey as the winner of the Dauphiné’s Points Classification.

Stage 8 was the race’s most telling moment: Vingegaard was clearly the strongest rider on the summit finish to Plateau de Solaison. And while he was technically pacing Roglič to the overall victory, the Dane looked as if he could drop his teammate whenever he wanted to. To those who saw the stage finish, Vingegaard’s win at the Tour a few weeks later was no surprise at all.

Riders to Watch

Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma)—Without Roglič–who’s taking a break after winning the Giro d’Italia–Vingegaard is the overwhelming favorite to win this year’s race. With so much climbing and a long time trial, it’s really the perfect race for him. Unless he decides to hold back to save himself for the Tour de France, it’s his race to lose.

Daniel Martinez (INEOS Grenadiers)—The Colombian won the Dauphiné with EF Education back in 2020, a result that likely finalized his transfer to INEOS after the season (and a big payday). He’s set to lead the team at the Tour de France in July, but given the team’s depth needs a good result at the Dauphiné to keep himself at the top of the squad’s Tour hierarchy.

David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ)—Gaudu has become France’s best Tour de France contender. He finished fourth last year and would love nothing more than to move up a spot to land on the final podium in Paris. He won a stage at last year’s Dauphiné, but only managed to finish 17th on the General Classification. We expect to again target select stages this year, while building form for his podium challenge in July.

Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers)—On paper, the former Tour de France and Giro d’Italia champion is riding in support of Martinez. But as the Colombian continues to work his way back from an accident that nearly ended his career (and his life) in February of 2022, this is an important test. A high finish might convince INEOS to send him to the Tour in July.

Jai Hindley (BORA-hansgrohe)—Hindley won last year’s Giro d’Italia—the first Australian to do so—and now he’s preparing for his first Tour de France. His performance at the Dauphiné will give us our first indication as to whether he’s a top-3, top-5, or top-10 contender.

Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar)Jorgenson’s the top American contender, and a rider who’s been turning heads all season. He won the Tour of Oman in February, finished eighth at Paris-Nice in March, and took ninth at the Tour of Flanders and was the runner-up at the Tour de Romandie in April. Rumored to be moving to Jumbo-Visma next season, the 23-year-old could increase his asking price considerably with a top-3 finish here.

Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quick Step)—The Frenchman was one of the sport’s “galacticos” for several seasons, winning back-to-back world championships in 2020 and 2021. But he’s been struggling to come back from a terrible crash in last year’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and has won just three races since the start of last year. This year’s Dauphiné, particularly Stages 1 and 2, look like perfect chances for Alaphilippe get back on track—just in time for the first two stages of the Tour de France, which both could be opportunities for Alaphilippe to make an early bid for the yellow jersey.

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