Critérium du Dauphiné 2014 – Stage 8 Preview

By David Hunter

Stage 7 Recap

Team Sky decided to let the bonus seconds go and the break took the stage. On the final climb, we were left with the Katusha riders: Trofimov and Silin. It seemed that they were safe but in the closing metres, Westra, appeared from nowhere. He surged past the despairing pair, to take a great win. A fully deserved win, considering how active he’s been this week. Back in the peloton, Team Sky seemed to be in complete control. They set a good pace on the climb and no one seemed keen to attack. That was until we were in the final 2 kilometres. Alberto Contador surged away and Froome didn’t follow. For the first time in 2 years, Chris Froome looked vulnerable. He allowed Porte to continue working before finally trying to bridge to Contador, with 1km remaining.  He failed and lost the yellow jersey, whilst Kelderman slipped off the podium, replaced by Talansky.

Stage 8 Megeve – Courchevel 130.5km

The end is nigh!

It’s been a cracking race and we have one more demanding stage. The opening two climbs are not going to have any impact on the race, so lets take a look at the last two.

The Côte de Montagny is 8km at 6.5%. It crests with 20km of the race remaining. It has a demanding kilometre of 10%, but the rest isn’t too hard.

Many ski-ing fans will know the finish of the race. It’s 5.9km at 6.2%, so quite a short climb. To create gaps it will have to be approached at high pace.

What type of race will we get?

Breakaways seem to be the fashion of the race, but Team Sky need the bonus seconds, at the end of the stage. Froome is 8 seconds behind Contador and there is 10, 6 and 4 seconds available for the first three home. Froome needs to win!

I expect Team Sky to work hard all day. It’s a short stage, so shouldn’t be too difficult to keep the break under control. They’ll ride the penultimate climb quickly, to try and isolate Contador, then hit the final climb hard.

It’s been a hard week and there are a lot of tired legs in the peloton. Although the final climb doesn’t look too hard, Team Sky will make it tough and this will scatter the GC riders. I expect to see another battle between Froome and Contador.

Prediction time…

Has to be a win for Alberto Contador.

David Hunter

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