Tour of the Dauphiné 2024, Route Presentation and Favorites First Stage: Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule – Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule (172.5 km)

The Tour of the Dauphiné 2024 he starts immediately with a fast fraction. The 172.5 kilometers scheduled with departure and arrival in Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule, a small town located in the Allier department, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, is the backdrop to a first section full of ups and downs, but without particular difficulty for fast wheels, who will therefore try to capitalize on what is the only an almost certain opportunity, at least on paper, for a sprint finish. Three easy Mountain Grand Prix at the start, however, will award the first Polka Dot Jersey while waiting for the real difficulties, which will not be long in coming.

DEPARTURE TIME: 12.35pm
ARRIVAL TIME (EXPECTED): 4.35pm-4.56pm
LIVE TV AND STREAMING: 3.00pm-5.00pm Eurosport, Discovery+ / 3.25pm-5.00pm RaiSport
OFFICIAL HASHTAG: #Dauphiné

First Stage Tour of the Dauphiné Tour 2024

The stage will start from Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule and he will immediately experience a fairly lively sector, so much so that the only three Mountain Grand Prix of the day will be concentrated in the first 60 kilometers of the race. The first will be there Côte de Jenzat (1.4 km at 6.9%), the summit of which is located after 17.5 km of the race; just under 10 kilometers further there will be the Côte de Gannat (2.5 km at 6%) and the series of categorized climbs will end with the Côte de Chouvigny (2.4 km at 7.9%). This Gpm will be followed by another short uphill stretch, which will effectively conclude the hardest part of the stage.

After a short descent, the runners will reach the town of Bellenaves, where a long stretch of soft ups and downs will begin which will take the race back to the starting point, where the stage finish line is also located. At that point the route includes two laps of a circuit measuring 28.1 kilometers in total and which sees, just under 10 km from the finish line, a short, uncategorized roughness, which could complicate the lives of the sprinters, hoping to play for the their cards.

Favorites First Stage Tour of the Dauphiné 2024

The fastest riders in the group will most likely compete for the stage victory and the first Yellow Jersey. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) is not “just” a sprinter and his enormous endurance and cross-country qualities put the heaviest part of the prediction on his shoulders. The Dane returns to racing after a long competitive break and is eager to start moving his success meter again, also in view of the Tour de France: the finale, punctuated by some ups and downs, could even give him an advantage compared to the (few) pure sprinters who will be competing.

Of these, the fittest appears to be Sam Bennett (Decathlon Ag2r La Difesa), who recently returned to leave his mark in the finals and who presents himself at the event as the main reference of a team that is experiencing a great season. The French team, however, could also try to follow tactical lines different from those of the sprint, having at its disposal a high-level stacker which has now become Dorian Godon, capable of making the difference in convulsive and intricate endings. If it will fly, Milan Menten (Lotto Dstny) will be one of the riders to keep an eye on: the Belgian hasn’t won yet this year, but he has a long series of placings behind him and, given the relative strength of his rivals present, he might be able to seize an opportunity truly precious to him.

The starting field, not very selected in terms of fast wheels, could then be tempting Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) to join the fray. The Dane has already demonstrated his ability in such contexts, and the not entirely flat route could give him an extra boost. The same goes for Spanish Iván García Cortina (Movistar), which does not have very high speed peaks, but which could find times and ways to make its way towards the end. We also expect some signals from Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious), who hasn’t been seen much in the final stages of important races in recent months: his team has top ranking men to keep protected, but the Englishman has the qualities to handle himself in a scenario of this type.

Several teams also have quite fast riders with whom they can chase a strong result. This is the case of Team dsm-firmenich PostNL, which will focus on the Latvian Emīls Liepiņš, who had started the season well and could exploit his qualities in the event of an extremely “compact” arrival. Then pay attention to the young Frenchman Hugo Page (Intermarché-Wanty), another heavy runner, with characteristics that match well, on paper, with those of the route designed by the organizers for the occasion. In a possible sprint with compact ranks, the young Australian could then find space Jensen Plowright (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and the much more experienced Marco Haller (Bora-hansgrohe) e Clément Venturini (Arkéa-B&B Hotels).

There is also no shortage of riders with what it takes to try to carry out an action that could ruin the plans of the sprinters’ teams. It is the case of Casper Pedersen (Soudal-QuickStep), who could be exempted from protection duties of Captain Remco Evenepoel, as well as Oier Lazkano (Movistar) e Ide Schelling (Astana Qazaqstan). Furthermore, the latter team will also be able to try to play the card Michele Gazzoli, runner gifted with an inspiration that is well suited to a similar context. Some surprise moves could also arise from the legs of Toms Skujiņš (Lidl-Trek), Markus Hoelgaard (Uno-X Mobility), Florian Sénéchal (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Georg Zimmermann (Intermarché-Wanty), Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Krists Neilands (Israel-Premier Tech) e Davide De Pretto (Team Jayco AlUla).

Finally, it is unlikely that victory will be available to riders who choose to attack from afar. Surprises, however, can never be completely ruled out a priori and therefore athletes who have no problems clocking up kilometers on the run like Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech), Nico Denz (Bora-hansgrohe), Tobias Bayer (Alpecin-Deceuninck) e James Whelan (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) must however be taken into consideration.

Bag of the Favorites First Stage Tour of the Dauphiné 2024

***** Mads Pedersen
**** Sam Bennett, Milan Menten
*** Magnus Cort, Iván García Cortina, Fred Wright
** Dorian Godon, Emīls Liepiņš, Hugo Page, Casper Pedersen
* Marco Haller, Oier Lazkano, Jensen Plowright, Ide Schelling, Clément Venturini

Predicted weather First stage of the Tour of the Dauphiné 2024

Showers. Chance of precipitation: 70%. Humidity: 88%. Wind direction SSE up to 16 km/h. Expected temperature: minimum 12°, maximum 16°.

Major pitfalls First Stage Tour of the Dauphiné 2024

It is the first stage of a very important race, a condition that brings with it all the nervousness dictated by the fact that the entire group will be traveling at maximum energy. Everyone will want to stay ahead, everyone will fight for position, weighing their respective goals, and everyone will want to avoid trouble, thus creating the right context for these troubles to happen. So be careful of accidents, particularly in a race finale that promises to be very fast and intense, and especially if the roads are wet due to rain.

Altimetry and Planimetry First Stage Tour of the Dauphiné 2024

Timetable First Stage Tour of the Dauphiné 2024