It will be fascinating to watch the Dauphine this week coming. The form of Contador and Froome will be laid bare for all to see. Personally I'm piling my cash on Contador to win Le Tour.

I wouldnt. he cracked last year, and they rarely come back.

Just checked the odds. Theres little value is there?. Odds on Froome, and 9/4 Contador.

1.8km Croix Rousse cycle tunnel used at the start of tomorrow's Dauphiné ITT : http://youtu.be/QYSGqRt-chk?t=3m41s

Flat and windless with a smooth surfacing - ideal for a time-trial purist but will take less than 2mins to traverse.

I guess like a lot of people the reason I got into cycling on the telly was for the scenery and views of interesting cities and places

So I would have enjoyed a TT around Lyons as the Tour doesn't seem to go there very often and it is France's second biggest conurbation with a population similar to Greater Manchester........and it's a city with a great history for students of the French revolution and beyond

So typical innit.........we get a TT in Lyons and they do it in a tunnel !........

The tunnel is only the first part of the 10km ITT: http://www.steephill.tv/2014/criteri...ere/map-01.jpg

If they don't have cabled cameras in the tunnel then it will be like the Zoncolan last week where the tunnels did not figure in the live coverage. I presume the tube will be white lit, or will they provide special projections for the event?

Don't think Dave's too chuffed..........

http://www1.skysports.com/cycling/ne...team-selection

Nice to see some familiar names in a race - the Criterium is underway. They even have motorbike pictures in the tunnel. Somehow.

Live stage standings and start times on the Le tour website: http://www.letour.fr/criterium-du-da...fr/direct/aso/

Nibali, Contador and Froome off around half past one.

Well, as much as I can't stand the bloke, hats off to Chris Froome. That was a great time trial.

Bob Jungels at only 21 nearly holding off the field.

Froome 2 secs/km faster than Porte; 21 riders between them. Sky the best performing team on the stage. Tinkoff-Saxo a minute down.

Contador less comfortable on the bike than normal. He appeared under-geared on the climb. Once he crossed the river, he was pushing back in the saddle, drifting forward over four-five seconds or so, and then pushing himself back. Pictures showed it happen four times in succession before camera angle changed.

Froome's new TT bike looks wafer thin from the front. Is the rear brake shroud legit?

Fantastic finish today in the Dauphine.......Froome goes man to man with Contador and sees him off after Contador had sat on his wheel al the way up the climb

Start lists for the National Road Championships have been released.

Announcement / start lists
Courses

The men's elite road race will be broadcast live by British Eurosport, and (I think) ITV4 will broadcast highlights of all the disciplines.

* Cav wants to keep his RR champion jersey for a second year
* Dowsett will attempt to keep his TT champion jersey for a fourth consecutive year
* Wiggins will ride in both the RR and the time trial
* Froome will not participate
* Armistead wants to win the women's RR for a second time in succession (third time overall)
* Rowsell will attempt to defend her TT title
* Trott will ride in both the RR and TT

The other bit of good news from the Dauphine, which I didn't notice at the time, was that young British climber Adam Yates came in 8th, 42 seconds down, at the head of the second group. I don't know if Orica are planning to put him in the Tour de France, but I think he is young enough to have another 2-3 years competing for the White Jersey.

I get the impression Contador was quite happy to let Froome take the win yesterday as he lost no ground at all, yet Froome did a lot of the ground work at the top of the Peloton. Could be a cracking Dauphine with the talent that's there, hopefully Nibali will get his act together too as he looked off the pace yesterday.

Nikias Arndt wins today's stage but a low key day for the GC boys.

i really dont see why people rave about nibali , he is miles behind froome and contador and is no threat whatsoever here and even less so when it comes to the tour , his attacks are not strong enough and have very little impact against the elite riders .

Eurosport have got the Tour de Suisse starting next week. First couple of days are on tape delay, the others are live.

that's good as they haven't shown it for the last couple of years

one strange thing though......on the first stage, Sunday, I assume it clashes with the final stage of the Dauphin and they have motorbike racing all afternoon live on ES2

But on day 2, Monday. they have no live sport on either channel so wonder why they're not covering the stage live ?

It says Live on Monday at 14.45 on the web schedule

cheers........

I was going by Her Majesty's Radio Times........

Well he was probably the biggest threat to Wiggins two years ago at the Tour, aside from Froome who was obviously holding back. Won the Giro last year and came close in the Vuelta after a gruelling season only to be beaten by an ageing Chris Horner who came from nowhere, which was a very questionable result with all that cycling's been through. He might not quite have the explosive power of riders like Froome or Quintana but he's a top class GC rider IMHO.

Very surprised Nibali gets the nod over Quintana for the TDF a huge loss to the tour IMHO

they're in different teams ........

eerrrr what ?

Quintana is taking a break I'd guess after winning the Giro. The Tour is too soon after really. Wouldn't be surprised if he has a crack at the Vuelta later this year.

Quintana confirmed recently he will ride the Vuelta. Rodriguez, who could not recover from his Giro's broken bones in time for the Tour, will also be there. And like Froome in 2012, Contador will ride TdF and Vuelta this year. Wiggins has the option to ride after the Commonwealth Games. Not seen Aru and Uran's intentions.