Does Dauphiné success guarantee Tour de France victory?

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The 2006 race, led by Spain's Alejandro Valverde, tops the Galibier(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

News feature, June 10, 2008

If your name is Lance Armstrong, then yes, you did well in both races. However few other riders have replicated their form in both races. Andrei Kivilev finished fifth in the Dauphiné and fourth in the Tour in 2001. Iban Mayo finished second and sixth in 2003. In 2005, Alexander Vinokourov finished fifth in both races. And last year, Cadel Evans was the runner-up in both, while Alberto Contador was sixth in the Dauphiné and yet went on to win La Grande Boucle.

Rewind to 1999, and the cycling world watched in awe as a fresh-faced Kazakh by the name of Alexander Vinokourov became the surprise winner. A second year professional with the short-lived but highly entertaining Casino team, the 25 year-old turned out an exemplary performance in the mountains. Rather ironically, we labelled the Kazakh as 'part of a new generation of riders that provide a fresh image in the face of the doping scandals.' 'Vino' had already won a stage and the overall at the Volta a Valenciana, and two stages at the Midi Libre, all before his stage win and the overall at the Dauphiné.

That year Armstrong finished a creditable eighth in the Dauphiné but coming into the Tour as an unknown quantity he went on to dominate the race. He was not the best-placed US Postal rider in the Dauphiné though. Jonathan Vaughters finished second, with Kevin Livingston in sixth. In July Vaughters only made it to the second stage, when he had to drop out after falling victim to the mass crash on the Passage du Gois.

Other Dauphine animators included second placed Haimar Zubeldia, whose Euskaltel-Euskadi team was not invited to the Tour de France. Fourth placed finisher Alex Zülle (Banesto) dropped out of the Tour's 17th stage, having fallen back in the Alps and lacking united team support. The fifth place finisher in the Dauphiné was former US Postal rider Vaughters, who had left the USA team in search of his own possibilities at Crédit Agricole, but a crash forced him out of the race early.

Unlike the previous year, all five of the top finishers went on to ride the Tour. As noted, Armstrong won, and his domestique Landis finished 61st, 1'48" down. Moreau crashed out of the Tour yet again, while Zubeldia and his Euskaltel-Euskadi team were finally invited to the Tour. He was the best of the Basque team, finishing 39th in Paris. Fifth place Dauphiné finisher Kivilev was only 21st, in what was to be his last Tour de France.

Come July, Mayo was again one of the USA rider's sternest rivals, blowing the race apart in the Alps and finishing sixth overall. David Millar, third in the Dauphiné, finished second in the Tour prologue, but won the 19th stage time trial. He ended up 55th, nearly two hours down. Francesco Mancebo went from fourth in the Dauphiné to 10th in the Tour. Moreau, fifth, finally made it to the end of the Tour, and finished eighth overall. Armstrong and Hamilton were the only top five Tour de France finishers to have ridden the Dauphiné.

Mayo got his revenge this year, winning the Dauphiné over Armstrong. The two had battled it out the previous season, and Mayo was determined to win it this year. He did so, "with victory in the prologue, a resounding triumph on the slopes of the Mont Ventoux, and hardly a moment of weakness throughout the week." But he was unable to follow through in the Tour. Crashing on the Belgian cobblestones in stage three, he lost nearly four minutes and, demoralized, he lost 38 minutes in stage 13 before dropping out after the next stage. The general feeling was that he had peaked too early in the season.

The Tour de France top five featured two US Postal riders, Armstrong and José Azevedo, both of whom rode the Dauphiné, which Azevedo finished as 12th. Ivan Basso of Team CSC, third in the Tour, also started the earlier race, but did not finish the final stage. Second and fourth in the Tour went to Andreas Klöden and Jan Ullrich of T-Mobile Team, which as usual rode the Tour de Suisse instead of the Dauphiné.

Iñigo Landaluze of Euskaltel-Euskadi was the surprise winner of the Dauphiné in 2005; a win he established by a breakaway in the fifth stage, when he finished some seven minutes ahead of the favourites. It was later announced that the Basque rider had tested positive for testosterone during the Dauphiné, but doping charges were ultimately dismissed due to procedural errors. In the Tour, he finished only 100th, nearly three hours down.

The fourth place finisher, Armstrong, in the Dauphiné went on to win the Tour for the seventh and last time. He didn't win any stages in the Dauphiné, but he never lost any significant time either. Looking at the Tour de France top five, second place Ivan Basso (Team CSC) and third place Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) did not ride the Dauphiné, while fourth place finisher Francisco Mancebo (Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne) did, and finished tenth there.

The Tour de France was won in Paris that year by Floyd Landis, who had finished a dismal 60th in the Dauphiné, nearly an hour down. He eventually lost that Tour title, though, after testing positive for testosterone. The win was then award to Oscar Pereiro of Caisse d'Epargne, who had finished 14th in the Dauphiné. The second, third and fourth place Tour finishers – Andreas Klöden (T-Mobile), Carlos Sastre (CSC) and Cadel Evans (Davitamon-Lotto) – did not ride the earlier French race. Fifth place finisher Denis Menchov placed sixth overall in the Dauphiné.

Christophe Moreau won the Dauphiné Libéré for the second time in 2007, although the race was dominated by Team Astana, which won four stages. He won the Mont Ventoux stage to move into second place behind Andrey Kashechkin (Astana), and took over the lead on the sixth stage, when Kashechkin was unable to answer the Frenchman's attacks. Moreau took his good form into the Tour, but a poor showing in the stage 13 time trial started him on the downward trend; he ended up 37th, over an hour and a half down on winner Contador.