The route for the Critérium du Dauphiné was revealed this morning in Lyon, in the presence of Rhône-Alpes Regional Counsel President, Jean-Jack Queyranne and Amaury Sport Organisation Director of Cycling, Christian Prudhomme. The 2015 edition, that will debut and finish in the Savoie, will propose, via the nine regions it will cross, a selection of ascensions to satisfy as much the climbers as the more adventurous combative riders. The 67th edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné will be held from June 7 to 14 over a demanding course that promises to be a wide open race and will feature the reintroduction of an unprecedented team time trial and four mountain top finishes. FromDigne-les-Bains to Pra-Loup, on the same roads that will be used during the Tour de France in July, riders will have to demonstrate consistency in the mountains to be in with a chance of donning the Yellow and Blue Jersey after the arrival at Modane.
 
The 67th edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné will get up and running with a short and hilly circuit located around Albertville. This circuit actually could give ideas to riders capable of escaping from the peloton and coping with the short Villard climb (1.2 km at 8.7%) six times. During the first days of the race, the sprinters plans will be subjected to the wheelers, who will most likely try to use the wind to their advantage and a torturous route in arriving in the Dombes district (on stage 2). In the Loire Department, the team time trial, which hasn’t been a part of the race since 1980, will be back this year and offers the teams the chance to get, on a rolling 24.5km course, a preview of the Tour de France TTT at Plumelec on July 12.
 
After a long route (228km) that will lead the riders to Sisteron (10 June), the second half of the race will feature severe gradients that should allow the more incisive climbers to standout. From Thursday July 11, the strong riders will come to the fore on a stage that can’t be overlooked by those who are looking ahead to the month of July. The 5th stage, identical in every respect to stage 17 of the 2015 Tour de France, will feature a gruelling finish, which will include the Allos climb and its vertiginous descent before tackling the climb to Pra-Loup, where Criterium du Dauphiné race director, Bernard Thevenet, defeated Eddy Merckx 40 years ago on the tour de France. The return to Rhône-Alpes on Friday 12 June will be highlighted by five major difficulties, including the Rousset climb and the two-kilometre ascension towards Villard-de-Lans, as a preamble to a weekend that will not leave much observation time to the contenders for the overall victory.
 
After the opening 30 flat kilometres of a short 7th stage, a succession of five very demanding climbs, among them the Croix Fry climb (11.2 km at 7%) and the Aravis, that will serve as the first peloton breaker before the riders take on the daunting Amerands ascension  (2.7 km at 11.2%), before the final climb towards Saint-Gervais-les-Bains. While the peloton will have to wait for the new and spectacular Montvernier switchbacks, also on the programme of stage 18 of the Tour de France, to see the road rise again on Sunday the 14th, it is a safe bet that the general classification will be determined on the Modane hilltops on the final stage. 
 

Stage 1:

Stage 3:

Stage 5:

Stage 6:

Stage 7:

Stage 8: