2024 Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 8 Live Coverage
Welcome to our live coverage of Stage 8 of the 2024 Critérium du Dauphiné! Our live profile and commentary are below, followed by a preview of the technical aspects of the route.
Course Preview
The final stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné covers 152.5 kilometres between Thônes and the Plateau des Glières. The race includes 3,640 metre of climbing, while the finishing ascent is 9.4 kilometres long and averages 7.1%.
The route climbs from the start. Initially non-classified, but then the Col de la Forclaz de Montmin serves up a 7.3% gradient over 7.1 kilometres. Straight after the descent it goes back uphill on the Col des Esserieux, an ascent of 4.2 kilometres at 5.4%. Following a neglectible downhill and a similar uphill, the riders plunge down to starting venue Thônes. The opening circuit last 42.9 kilometres.
From Thônes, the riders head for the intermediate sprint in Saint-Jean-de-Sixt, which is situated on a 6.3 kilometres climb at 4.6%. The sprint precedes a quiet phase in the race, starting with a gradual downhill of 20 kilometres and another 20 kilometres on the flat. Then it’s time for the ascent up La Salève.
La Salève is a mountain south of the Swiss town of Geneva, very close to the border. The riders tackle the ascent from the north, making it a 12.1 kilometres climb with an average gradient of 6.8%. The stretch between kilometres 5 and 7 goes up at double digits.
Following the sprint for KOM points, the riders plunge down a short descent before the route returns to climbing for 4.3 kilometres at 3.8%. Then, a proper descent leads all the way to Thorens-Glières. Moments later, the finishing climb kicks in.
In 2018 and 2020, the Plateau des Glières was included in the Tour de France, which resulted in a lot of discussion regarding the dirt roads at the top. No risk of that this time, as the riders tackle the ascent to the limestone plateau in the Bornes Massif from another side. This way, the climb is 9.4 kilometres long and averages 7.1% – or, a better way to describe it would be, 7 kilometres at 9%, as the final 2.4 kilometres even out to a false flat.
Julian Alaphilippe cherishes fond memories of the Plateau des Glières from Thorens-Glières. In 2013, he won the final stage of the Tour de l’Avenir on this climb, outperforming Matej Mohoric and Adam Yates.
The first three riders at the finish gain time bonuses of 10, 6, and 4 seconds, while the intermediate sprint has 3, 2, and 1 second on offer.
Get our full coverage of the Critérium du Dauphiné and every race we cover with our mobile app! The apps have over 100 additional exclusive features, including our award-winning Time Machine feature that lets you pause/rewind/replay the entire app to sync with delayed race video, integrated Fantasy Cycling, push notifications, an integrated news feed, live GPS tracking, world-class commentary, and our animated interactive maps and profiles.
