A tough Criterium de Dauphine, starting this Sunday, will continue to support the preparations of some of ORICA-GreenEDGE’s long list for this year’s Tour de France.

The Australian outfit will target stage wins at the eight-day race, which features a team time trial on stage three and a significant amount of climbing on the seven road stages.

“If you check the course from the Dauphine it's a really hard one,” sport director Laurenzo Lapage said. “It’s important for the team to come out strong and healthy for the Tour De France and coming home with a stage win is the main goal.”

“The Dauphine is important for all teams in their preparation for the Tour and having a team time trial in there makes it really interesting too. 

“In terms of stage wins, if there is a chance at a bunch sprint we will look toMagnus Cort, and as the stages begin to get harder we have Simon Gerrans and Adam and Simon Yates to play around with.”

South African Daryl Impey and Belgian Jens Keukeleire will provide crucial support in the finals for Cort and Gerrans whilst Canadian Christian Meier and Italian Ivan Santaromita will be critical in the tougher mountain stages for the Yates brothers. 

“I expect a hard race with a lot of changes every day,” Lapage said. “Controlling the race on this course and these roads will not be simple.

“The first days have the potential to cost teams a lot of energy and how the different outfits commit to that could prove critical the last days if they are riding for an overall contender.”

ORICA-GreenEDGE at Criterium de Dauphine (7-14 June):

Magnus Cort
Simon Gerrans
Daryl Impey
Jens Keukeleire
Christian Meier
Ivan Santaromita
Adam Yates
Simon Yates