Voeckler and Rolland to test condition at Critérium du Dauphiné

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Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) finished the race as lantern rouge(Image credit: Photopress.be)

Team Europcar will send their two French captains to the Critérium du Dauphiné as part of their final preparation before the Tour de France. Thomas Voeckler is coming from a difficult week at the Tour of Belgium, where he was lantern rouge while Pierre Rolland has been steadily building his condition at the Bayern-Rundfahrt where he finished 17th-overall.

Voeckler and Rolland find themselves in very different stages of their build-up ahead of their season's biggest goal at the Tour de France which comes in less than a month's time; Voeckler is searching for race condition while his younger compatriot will be testing where he stands against a number of his key Tour rivals Chris Froome (Sky), Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Joaquím Rodríguez (Katusha) and Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto Belisol).

Last year's King of the Mountains winner Voeckler is still on the comeback trail after breaking his collarbone at Amstel Gold and received another knock when he crashed on Stage 1 of the recent Tour of Belgium. Voeckler spent the remaining 55km of the 194km stage on his own and spent the rest of the five-day race nursing his injuries while finishing the race as the last rider on the general classification.