The 68th Criterium du Dauphiné kicks off today with a short uphill time trial in Les Gets: a 4-km long test with an average gradient of almost 10%.
In the last two kilometres of the climb of Montée du Mont Chéry, some sections reach a very steep 20%.
Amongst the favourites who can be expected to contend for victory are Alberto Contador, Romain Bardet, defending champion Chris Froome, Richie Porte, Thibaut Pinot and Fabio Aru.
“We’ve wanted to do something radically different from a standard prologue. The terrain offers this opportunity, so we’ll have a very spectacular time trial. It’s almost four times the Mur de Huy,” explained Gilles Maignan who is in charge of the route.
“It’ll put the climbers under the spotlight from the very beginning of the race,” Maignan added.
A YouTube user named cyclingchallenge’s channel has recently uploaded a video showing his cycle up the climb which shows how very steep it is in parts.
