The 2020 Criterium du Dauphine Betting Preview, Odds and Picks

Like the rest of professional sports throughout the world, cycling has returned to live action after a lengthy hiatus due to the pandemic. The sport also had to sprint their way to a revised schedule for 2020 and crunch as many of their iconic races into a shortened season.

In addition to the Grand Tours and Monuments, smaller stage races with a prestigious history have also been included into this truncated season like the Criterium du Dauphine. Typically held in late-May, this year’s 72^nd edition of the race will be held from August 12^th to August 16^th.

Not only will this race be the first real test for many of the sport’s top Grand Tour riders, but it will also be loaded with tons of firepower as many of cycling’s biggest names are expected to take the starting line. It’s hard to recall the last time all of the sport’s top riders competed in this race.

This year, the Criterium du Dauphine takes on an extra importance as it will be a proving ground and preparation for the favorites heading into the 2020 Tour de France which starts in the end of August.

With that said, cycling betting sites have released odds for this five stage race. Let’s strap on our helmets, load up on the carbs and crank out the wattage as we examine these Criterium du Dauphine odds and take that yellow jersey with our predictions.

Criterium du Dauphine Course Preview

The race kicks off with the easiest of the five stages as rider rolls out from Clermont-Ferrand to Saint-Christo-en-Jarez. It’s roughly 181 KM long with seven hills. Yet, nothing higher than a Category 2 climb.

Stage two is when the real fireworks will kick off as riders will face four categorized climbs with a summit finish on the Col de Porte, which is 17.5 km long and an average gradient of 6.2 percent.

Stage three will be more of the same as the day before, with the Col de la Madeleine as the toughest climb at 17.3km and an average gradient of 8.3 percent. The stage finishes on a Category 1 climb.

Stage four is arguably the toughest of all five stages and will definitely determine who’s a real contender for the race win. After riders leave Ugine, they will hit three Category 1 climbs in a row. Eventually, they will take on an HC climb up the Montee de Bisanme and finish the stage on a Cat 2 summit.

Stage five will start and finish in Megeve and features eight climbs with an HC climb up the Col de Romme.

There are no sprints or time trials, making this year’s Dauphine truly for the best climbers in cycling.

Previous Criterium du Dauphine Winners

The first Criterium du Dauphine was run in 1947 and won by Edward Klabinisky. Six different riders are tied with the most Dauphine victories at three wins apiece. This includes Lance Armstrong who had been retroactively stripped of his wins. The following is a list of previous winners dating back to 2000:

• Tyler Hamilton in 2000
• Christophe Moreau in 2001, 2007
• Lance Armstrong in 2002, 2003, 2006
• Iban Mayo in 2004
• Inigo Landaluze in 2005
• Alejandro Valverde in 2008, 2009
• Janez Brajkovic in 2010
• Bradley Wiggins in 2011, 2012
• Chris Froome in 2013, 2015, 2016
• Andrew Talansky in 2014
• Jakob Fuglsang in 2017, 2019
• Geraint Thomas in 2018

Criterium du Dauphine Betting Odds

The following cycling betting odds are courtesy of Bet365:

• Primoz Roglic (+125)
• Egan Bernal (+500)
• Tadej Pogacar (+700)
• Thibaut Pinot (+1400)
• Adam Yates (+1400)
• Julian Alaphilippe (+1600)
• Emmanuel Buchmann (+1600)
• Mikel Landa (+1600)
• Pavel Sivakov (+2000)
• Nairo Quintana (+2200)
• Steven Kruijswijk (+2800)
• Richie Porte (+3300)
• Chris Froome (+3300)
• Tom Dumoulin (+3300)
• Geraint Thomas (+4000)
• Sergio Higuita (+4000)
• Miguel Angel Lopez (+5000)
• Davide Formolo (+6600)
• Guillaume Martin (+6600)
• Pierre Latour (+8000)
• Alejandro Valverde (+8000)
• Dan Martin (+10000)

Betting Favorite to win Criterium du Dauphine

The following cyclists are the odds on favorites to win the 2020 Criterium du Dauphine:

Primoz Roglic (+125)

Primoz Roglic leads a stacked Team Jumbo-Visma that also features contenders Tom Dumoulin and Steven Kruijswijk. They have every bit the firepower as Team Ineos does, perhaps even more.

For Roglic, this will be his first Criterium du Dauphine race and he enters as the overwhelming favorite. He won the Tour de l’Ain already this season and is showing great form. He beat Egan Bernal in that race and was incredibly strong in the final two mountain stages.

Roglic proved last year that he can compete with the best in the sport after finishing 3^rd in the Giro d’Italia and winning the Vuelta a Espana. He also had a 4^th place result in the 2018 Tour de France when he announced his arrival to the sport of cycling as a Grand Tour rider.

There’s no reason to think that Roglic can’t finish Top 5 and compete for the Dauphine win this week. He’s on a great team and is the man to beat over the next five days.

Egan Bernal (+500)

Like Roglic, this will also be Bernal’s first time in the Criterium du Dauphine. He opted for the Tour de Suisse last year instead of this race. That proved to be a good decision as Team Ineos’ rising star won that event.

Bernal finished 2^nd to Roglic in the Tour de l’Ain, but he also has a race win in cycling’s return from hiatus when he finished first in the Route d’Occitanie. Egan looks in great form as well, which doesn’t bode well for other cyclists.

Bernal wants to win this race, but he is also focused on defending his Tour de France title from last year and could end up using the Dauphine for training purposes. Or, the 23 year old Columbian could take off in the mountains and put the rest of the favorites on notice including his Team Ineos teammates.

Tadej Pogacar (+700)

Pogacar will make his Criterium du Daphine debut and has been tasked to lead UAE Team Emirates this week as he competes for the podium. Pogacar will receive plenty of assistance from talented teammates like Davide Formolo who is in good form as well, which is something Tadej commented on:

“Some of the stages here at the Dauphiné could suit me, but the principal aim is building up for the Tour de France. Formolo is also really going well at the moment, so we’ll try to do something between us here.”

When a rider comes out and states that his aim is building for the next big race, it doesn’t instill confidence in me that he will win the Dauphine.

The 21 year old has plenty of talent and is definitely a future star of the sport. He finished third at the Vuelta a Espana last year, which was his first Grand Tour.

Before the lockdown, Pogacar had raced well earlier in the 2020 season. He won Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana and finished 2^nd in the UAE Tour. Following the lockdown, he finished in the Top 15 for the Milano-Sanremo and Strade Bianche.

I don’t see Pogacar being a true contender to win this week. Keep an eye out for him in the Tour de France as he’s clearly focused on his first entrance into the biggest race in cycling.

Thibaut Pinot (+1400)

Pinot has only participated in one race since cycling’s restart and that was the Route d’Occitanie where he finished 4^th overall, 37 seconds behind Bernal.

The French rider will make his 5^th appearance in the Criterium du Dauphine and looks to build off his 2019 performance when he finished 5^th overall. He has one career stage win in this race.

Pinot’s team doesn’t have the firepower that other squads have, especially since they lost Gaudu who was Thibaut’s right hand man. Gaudu is out due to health issues.

However, unlike Pogacar who’s building for the TDF, Pinot is focused on the Dauphine as it’s one of his country’s most cherished races behind the Tour de France:

“I’m focusing the taking the races one by one. The Dauphiné is one of the biggest races of the season, and so I’m of course hoping to perform strongly there.”

Pinot is the exact kind of rider that can hang with the favorites for most of the climbs, but end up stealing this race as the overall GC contenders shift focus to the TDF in a few weeks.

Keep an eye on France’s biggest hope for the Dauphine as he’s definitely a contender this week.

Adam Yates (+1400)

For Adam Yates, this is his first race since the lockdown and he’s tasked with leading Team Mitchelton-Scott not only in the Dauphine, but the Tour de France as well.

Yates is making his 6^th appearance in the Dauphine, but first since 2018 when he finished 2^nd to Geraint Thomas. Yates has three Top 7 finishes and one stage win in his five previous Dauphine performances.

Team Mitchelton-Scott has surrounded Yates with some talent including Daryl Impey and Jack Haig. But, his twin brother Simon will not be competing this week.

Although Yates has the potential to upstage other GC riders, this week is nothing more than a training ground for Adam as he’s yet to compete in a race since cycling restarted.

Criterium du Dauphine Value Bets

The following cyclists offer betting value based on their past success in this race, their current betting odds, and their overall status in the sport of cycling:

Steven Kruijswijk (+2800)

Kruijswijk’s first race of the season was the Tour de l’Ain where he helped his teammate Primoz Roglic win the event. However, Steven did finish 4^th overall. The 33 year old is making his second appearance in the Dauphine. He didn’t finish the race last year in his first time at the Criterium.

Kruijswijk has value because he will be up near the front of the pack helping his teammates Roglic and Dumoulin out. Yet, if either of them falter or are using this race for training purposes, then Kruijswijk will be the benefactor and could end up challenging for the race win.

Let’s not forget, he’s a two-time Top 5 finisher at the TDF including 3^rd last year. Additionally, he has a 4^th in the Vuelta a Espana and the Giro d’Italia.

Chris Froome (+3300)

Chris Froome is probably the one rider that fans and pundits are the most excited to see in the Dauphine this week. He’s still working his way back to top form after missing most of last year due to a gruesome crash prior to the 2019 TDF.

Not only will Froome need to prove he’s fully recovered, but he needs a strong performance in this race to prove that Team Ineos should bring him to the Tour de France at the end of the month. Froome is leaving Ineos after this season and heading to a new team next year.

One of the greatest Grand Tour riders of all-time, Froome wants to reclaim his throne on top of the sport. As for the Dauphine, Froome is a three time winner of this race and looks to make history by becoming the only man to win the Criterium four times.

This is Froome’s eighth appearance in the Dauphine. In his previous seven appearances of this event, he has five Top 4s and six stage wins.

In 2020 so far, Froome has finished 71^st at the UAE, 41^st in the Tour de l’Ain, and 37^th at the Route d’Occitanie.

Tom Dumoulin (+3300)

Tom Dumoulin is the third member of Jumbo-Visma’s trio of leaders. He left Sunweb to join the Jumbo-Visma squad and form one of the best teams in the sport.

Dumoulin made his return to cycling at the Tour de l’Ain after 14 months out of racing action. He ended up 11^th overall, but did a great amount of work for Roglic and looked in good form. Dumoulin missed time due to a knee injury, illnesses, and the shutdown of cycling.

Dumoulin has only competed in the Dauphine once before (2019), but failed to finish the race. Despite the question marks surrounding Tom’s overall level of fitness, we can’t forget that this is a former runner-up in the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in 2018.

I expect Dumoulin to do work again for Roglic this week, but we could also see him do some work for Kruijswijk if the team makes Steven the leader during the race. However, if his teammates don’t have the legs then watch out for Dumoulin in the mountains.

Geraint Thomas (+4000)

Like Dumoulin, Thomas is part of a trio of leaders at Team Ineos and is another cyclist who could sneak up on the favorites to win this race.

Thomas returned from hiatus to finish 34^th at the Tour de l’Ain. He helped his teammate Egan Bernal in that event and could do so again this week. But, Thomas could also score the victory for Team Ineos as well, if they decide not to have Bernal go full gas until the TDF.

A win at the Dauphine could prove that Thomas is still a contender at the TDF, which he won in 2018. Additionally, Thomas won the Dauphine that year as well.

In five appearances at the Criterium du Dauphine, Thomas finished four of them, but never placed higher than 15^th except for when he won the race two years ago. Surprisingly, Thomas hasn’t even won a stage in this event.

Like with Team Jumbo-Visma, you can’t sleep on any of Team Ineos’ three riders. Whoever has the best legs of the trio will end up getting the leadership role and a great shot at winning the race.

Longshot to Win the Criterium du Dauphine

Alejandro Valverde (+8000) is my longshot pick for this event due to his lengthy experience in the sport of cycling and being on a strong team. Not only does Movistar have Valverde, but they also have young, talented riders in Enric Mas and Marc Soler.

Valverde is a two time winner of this race as well. In fact, he’s finished in the Top 9 in six of his seven previous Dauphine races. He also has two stage wins and is cagy enough to go on the attack at just the right time.

Although Valverde is at the end of his career, the Spaniard still has a few tricks up his sleeves.

Who Will Win the 2020 Criterium du Dauphine?

This race will come down to two teams: Jumbo-Visma and Team Ineos. Each team has a trio of riders that could win the race and the Tour de France in a few weeks. That’s six cyclists all capable of capturing the final yellow jersey.

Before we pick a winner, we must decide which cyclist will be the leader for their respective team. With the way they’ve been riding, the leaders have to be Primoz Roglic for Jumbo-Visma and Egan Bernal for Team Ineos.

These two cyclists have won two key races following the sport’s return to action. Yet, it was Jumbo-Visma that conquered the Tour de l’Ain over Team Ineos. Roglic won the race by 18 seconds over Egan Bernal.

Furthermore, Jumbo-Visma also had three other riders finish in the Top 11: Steven Kruijswijk (4^th), George Bennet (5^th) and Tom Dumoulin (11^th). As you can see, three of the Top 5 riders were all on Jumbo-Visma, proving that this team is the favorite heading into the Dauphine.

With that said, I am taking Egan Bernal to win this race. It’s his first Criterium du Dauphine and not only will he want to race well, but he will also want to get revenge against Jumbo-Visma for losing to Roglic at the Tour de l’Ain.

Furthermore, Bernal will want to show his teammates, and the rest of the field, that he’s the man to beat heading into the Tour de France at the end of this month.

At +500 odds, I love his value and his chances to win the 2020 Criterium du Dauphine.

*This article was written before the conclusion of Stage 1 of the Criterium du Dauphine.