67th Critérium - Preview

UCI WorldTour leader -winner of the French stagerace in 2008, 2009- set to face key points of Tour de France from Sunday

After claiming his third success in both Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liege during the spring classics and take some rest to later focuse on training prior to the summer in Sierra Nevada, Alejandro Valverde will be back leading the Movistar Team at the 67th Critérium du Dauphiné (Sunday 7th – Sunday 14th). Briton Alex Dowsett, Frenchman John Gadret, Australian Rory Sutherland and Spaniards José Herrada, Jonathan Castroviejo, Gorka Izagirre and Beñat Intxausti -the latter as only of the Blues this season to continue in Dauphiné after the Giro d'Italia- complete an eight-man squad directed by José Luis Arrieta and José Luis Laguía.

With no individual time trials on the 2015 route, the Dauphiné shares its points of attention between a team time trial on Tuesday 9th -24.5 kilometers from Roanne to Montagny, over demanding routes similar to this year's Tour de France TTT- and, above all, four mountain stages over the final four days, all of them with uphill finishes: Pra Loup (Cat-2), after Allos (Cat-1), on Thursday 11th -the exact route of stage 17 in the Grande Boucle-; Villard de Lans via the Col de Rousset (Friday 12th); the Queen stage on Saturday 13th, with five Cat-1 ascents towards Saint-Gervais; and Modane Valfrejus, end of a demanding race in the Alps on the 14th.