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Who are the favourites for the Critérium du Dauphiné 2025?
The altitude camps are done, it’s time for the Tour de France stars to come out of their hiatus and race for the first time in several months. Yes, the Critérium du Dauphiné, which starts on Sunday 8th June, will pit the Tour’s key stars against one another in what is widely considered to be the premium warm-up race.
The Dauphiné seems to be the place to be this year. Its stacked startlist includes five of the top ten finishers from last year’s Tour de France, including the three podium finishers from the 2024 edition – Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel.
In eager anticipation of the race’s départ on Sunday, let’s dig into each one of the contenders and analyse their form, team, and preparations coming into the Dauphiné, and we’ll go a little bit beyond the Big Three to consider all eventualities.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG)
After lighting up the Spring Classics with his long-range attacks and cobble forays, Tadej Pogačar is returning to his stage racing roots at the Dauphiné.
Not usually part of his pre-Tour programme, the Dauphiné has been a long time coming for the Slovenian, who last rode this race in 2020. That unfamiliarity shouldn’t be an issue for him though, the World Champion hasn’t lost a one-week-long stage race since April 2021. That record alone should strike some fear into his opponents.
Pogačar has been fine-tuning his form at an altitude camp in Spain over the past few weeks before visiting Normandy to scout out the first time-trial in this year’s Tour de France. Although he’s been out of competition, his team insists that he is on track to be in the Tour de France in peak form.
Pogačar will be supported by a big chunk of his expected Tour domestiques – all of whom have spent the past month at altitude in Sierra Nevada. The notable inclusions are Pavel Sivakov, Nils Politt, Tim Wellens and Marc Soler, who won a stage of this race last year. With them on board, it’ll be a tough ask for anyone to dethrone Pogačar here, especially if he’s back to his best form as we expect.
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike)
After a long break from racing Jonas Vingegaard will make his return to the WorldTour at the Dauphiné.
The Dane started the season with a stage race victory at the Volta ao Algarve in Portugal. Soon after, he started Paris-Nice, but a crash in the yellow jersey on Stage 5 would soon rule him out of the Race to the Sun. Later, it emerged that he suffered a hefty blow to his wrist, but more worryingly, he had picked up a concussion as a result of the spill. Understandably, this forced him to rejig his schedule, favouring altitude camps over racing.
According to team staff Vingegaard has been picking up good form at altitude in Spain. He’s also managed to fit in a pre-Dauphiné recon near Annecy, most likely scouting out the 18th stage of this year’s Tour de France, which features almost 5,000m of climbing. His form, therefore, is a little unknown, but we assume he’s back up to speed, especially with such stiff competition at the Dauphiné. The route should suit him as well, particularly Stage 7’s Alpine odyssey to Valmeinier.
Regardless of how it pans out, it will be interesting to see how Vingegaard fares against Pogačar. The two haven’t duelled since last year’s Tour de France, so expectations will be high for both of them. No doubt Visma-Lease a Bike will also use this as a chance to rehearse their Tour drills, with half of the Tour lineup expected to compete here. Those domestiques include Sepp Kuss, Matteo Jorgenson and Victor Campenaerts.
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep)
Rounding out last year’s Tour podium is Remco Evenepoel. The 25-year-old will be savouring his final year of eligibility in the white jersey classification, with eyes firmly set on retaining that prize next month in France. Here at the Dauphiné, on the other hand, he’ll be hoping to beat Pogačar and Vingegaard in a stage race for the first time.
Like many of the Tour contenders, Evenepoel has been spending some time at altitude in Spain, honing his form alongside his Tour de France teammates. Some of them will be here at the Dauphiné too, including Max Schachmann, Louis Vervaeke and Valentin Paret-Peintre.
The parcours for this year’s event suits Remco. A 20km-long time-trial on Stage 4 looks tailor-made for the Belgian. To add, the lack of severe Alpine days should help the Soudal-QuickStep leader limit his losses to Pogačar and Vingegaard. Evenepoel’s stage race form has been patchy over the past few years though, with only one WorldTour stage race victory to his name since winning the Vuelta three years ago.
Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike)
With Vingegaard absent from last year’s race, Matteo Jorgenson was offered leadership duties in the Dauphiné. In the end, the he was just eight seconds away from overall victory, with Primož Roglič just edging him to the maillot jaune.
This year Jorgenson will be back to domestique duties, with Vingegaard returning to action after his crash at Paris-Nice. That said, the American is a strong backup card to play in the GC. We saw glimpses of this potential two-pronged strategy at Paris-Nice earlier this year, as Visma-Lease a Bike placed the duo at the front of affairs in the opening stages.
Things might be a little different here. In fact, they’ll likely be drastically different, given the attendance of Pogačar. With the Slovenian on the start line, it’s almost guaranteed that Jorgenson assumes his domestique de luxe role. On the other hand, if Vingegaard struggles to keep up with Pogačar, the door should surely open for Jorgenson to ride for the podium, just like he did last year.
Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious)
Bahrain Victorious’s Lenny Martinez will be carrying French hopes at this year’s Dauphiné.
The climber, who hails from the south of France, has stepped up a gear in 2025. He won a closely-contested hilltop finish at Paris-Nice before finishing in fifth overall at the Volta a Catalunya and second at the Tour de Romandie. Clearly he’s improved on his stage racing this year, and with the Tour de France looming, many will expect the youngster to be fighting for a top five finish here as well.
Bahrain Victorious will be bringing two leaders to the Dauphiné, with Santiago Buitrago here too. The Colombian went well at last year’s Tour, but this year Martinez has the better streak of form coming in. The 20km-long time-trial in the Rhône valley shouldn’t suit either of them, but don’t be surprised if Martinez pulls a shock result against the clock, replicating his effort at the Tour de Romandie two months ago.
Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers)
Carlos Rodríguez is the only rider on this list to have won a stage at last year’s Critérium du Dauphiné. To add, he’s also the only rider here to have been in the top ten at the two most recent editions.
I hold my doubts that Rodríguez will make the podium here, but I do think he’ll be wedged somewhere within the top ten. Stage 4’s time-trial will most likely see him lose some time, however Stages 7 and 8 allow him the chance to stretch his legs on two heavy days of climbing in the Alps.
The 24-year-old Spaniard will be flanked by a strong Ineos squad, which includes the likes of Tobias Foss, Magnus Sheffield and Axel Laurance. The team have been picking up good momentum so far in 2025 and this race should give them another chance to show off their refined aggressive tactics.
Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
After a breakout season last year, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have allowed Florian Lipowitz more of a leash in 2025. Without Roglič to tow up the climbs, the German sailed to second place overall at Paris-Nice and fourth at Itzulia Basque Country.
Initially the squad were cautious about sending Lipowitz to these big races, however he’s overperformed so far. The Tour de France is another question, but if he goes well here, Red Bull would be missing a real opportunity to test the 24-year-old German on the sport’s biggest stage.
Lipowitz is a steady rider when it comes to GC. He’s very good at following wheels in the mountains, so if he delivers another strong time-trial performance on Stage 4, he could be brushing shoulders with the top five in the overall standings. His team support isn’t quite as watertight as some of his rivals, however Finn Fisher-Black should be a strong lieutenant for Lipowitz in the mountains.
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