The 2017 edition of the Critérium Dauphiné, long seen as the key warm-up race for the Tour de France, will take on the twin Alpine climbs of the Col de Sarenne and Alpe d'Huez on a brutal queen stage on the penultimate day of the race.
The route, announced this morning, will see the riders cover a total of 1,151km over eight stages, kicking off in Saint-Étienne on June 4 and finishing at the summit of the punishing Plateau de Solaison a week later.
The race will take in 35 climbs in total, but the majority of the serious ascents fall over the final three stages. Stage six takes in the HC climb of Le Mont du Chat before a technical descent of the entire mountain that’s all but guaranteed to result in a desperate chase to the finish line.
But the real fireworks should come the following day, which finishes on the top of Alpe d'Huez – arguably the most famous climb in cycling – after taking in four other climbs along the way.
However, the route takes in only the final six of the Alpe's famous 21 bends, joining the climb midway up after first tackling the 15km ascent of the nearby Col de Sarenne.
The final test will come on stage eight. Short at 115 kilometres, it still packs in three major climbs before the final 11.3 kilometre accent of Le plateau de Solaison. With an average gradient of 9,2%, it’ll be the last chance for the GC contenders to attack each other.
Beginning just under a month before the Tour de France, and covering some of the same territory in the French Alps, in recent years the race has been won by both Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins prior to their general classification wins at the Tour.
More details can be found on the race's official Twitter feed.