From this Sunday 2nd of June, Intermarché-Wanty participates in the Critérium du Dauphiné, an eight day World Tour race that made the whole team shiver last year with the victory of Georg Zimmermann on the summit of Crest-Voland and a seventh place overall for Louis Meintjes.
This 76th edition is composed of five medium mountain stages with uphill finishes, two hilly stages with a rolling final and a 34 kilometer time trial on the fourth day. Apart from the time trial, the first five days are favourable for sprinters and punchers, with an opening stage around Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule followed by two other hilly stages to the Col de la Loge on Monday and to Les Estables (3.8km at 5.2%) on Tuesday, with the climbs being more concentrated in the final phase.
The long solid weekend in the Alps starts on Friday with a summit finish on top of the Collet d’Allevard (11.2 km at 8.1%).The following day, Crest-Voland is once again on the route of the Intermarché-Wanty riders, before four other climbs, including the Hors Catégorie climb to the finish in Samoëns 1600 (10km at 9.3%). A similar stage with a demanding climb to the Plateau des Glières (9.4km at 7.1%) concludes the race on Sunday 9th of June.
Under the direction of Laurenzo Lapage and Bart Wellens, Georg Zimmermann returns to the Critérium du Dauphiné with the same preparation as last year, namely an altitude training camp with his teammates including Kobe Goossens, who has made an impressive return to competition, and Louis Meintjes, who won a stage of Itzulia Basque Country earlier this season and finished in the top ten of the overall classification four times.
The three climbers will be joined by Tom Paquot, Vito Braet, Hugo Page and Adrien Petit, who were all important players in Biniam Girmay’s success at the Circuit Franco-Belge and his second place in Rund um Köln the past week. In 2022, Hugo Page made a breakthrough at the Dauphiné with several top 10 finishes and a day in the green jersey.
"Immediately upon my return into competition, I was able to achieve good results in the Tour de Romandie and Eschborn-Frankfurt last month, even though I was not yet at a good level after eight months without racing and only a few weeks of training. In May I joined the team's altitude training camp in Andorra where I managed to work on all training aspects: building the base, raising the threshold, improving my VO2 Max and reducing my weight. The training conditions were good, and the team atmosphere was great. In addition to our training sessions, we spent a lot of time together in the evenings. Since my return home on Monday I have an excellent feeling in training. I am therefore looking forward to the Critérium du Dauphiné, where I hope to show the progress I have made in my build up. We are lining up with a strong team, which can shine in each stage. Hugo Page will be our protected rider on the sprint days, while Louis Meintjes is our leader for the general classification. In the mountains, I want to stay by his side for as long as possible. Personally, if the opportunity arises, I would like to fight for a stage win, for example in a breakaway."
