The Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes route is too difficult says 7x Tour de France stage winner

On Sunday, the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the new name for the Criterium du Dauphiné, gets underway. There we will see Paul Seixas return after an extremely successful spring. The top talent is due to make his Tour de France debut this summer, but will we actually get the first real indications in France next week of the hierarchy towards the Tour de France?

At least, that is what people will expect given the start list. Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard may be absent, but with Seixas, Isaac del Toro, Juan Ayuso, Matteo Jorgenson, Oscar Onley and also the returning João Almeida, the French eight-day race has a superb start list.

The top favourite: Paul Seixas, who will continue his Tour preparation on home soil. Cyrille Guimard, former rider and winner of seven Tour stages, is looking forward to the return of the top talent. “I expect a great show. A real race, with Seixas, Ayuso and Del Toro. I hope for a fantastic race, a real battle,” Cyclism’Actu quoted him as saying.

And Seixas himself? “He will do well anyway. In addition, he is racing on home roads. He knows most of the roads he will come across. He will be keen to shine. I think the race will revolve around him, that is obvious. He has another very strong rider with him, someone who gets far less attention, Léo Bisiaux, who may be able to support him and help him,” Guimard said.

Still, the Frenchman also added a caveat. “The only thing I am worried about is the route. It is made up almost entirely of uphill finishes or very tough stages, plus a team time trial. I think they are overdoing the difficulty. Over eight race days, the balance is not very good. But we could get a very exciting race, given the terrain and the quality of the riders.”

A pity in some ways, because what people would most like to get is this: “Depending on how Seixas behaves and the competition, we will get a first picture of what he could do in the Tour de France,” Guimard knows. But: “I think he would do well to be cautious in this race. As I said, there are too many climbs.”

“And often, when there are too many climbs, the race is neutralised on a large number of passes,” the former rider continues. “We will mainly see action on the uphill finishes. The organisers should know that the more climbs you add, the less action there is. On the first day, you already have five mountain passes. Maybe the race is already over on Sunday evening.”

Author: David Bavin-Hobbs - [email protected]