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When you have on your roster the silver medalists in the last two editions of the Tour de France it’s arguable that you have two of the three best stage racers in the world. Given Tadej Pogacar’s absence, Primoz Roglic, Jonas Vingegaard and Jumbo Visma dominated the 2022 Criterium du Dauphiné, taking home 1st and 2nd in the general classification (GC), the green jersey (through Wout Van Aert), and three stage wins.
Jumbo Visma – A
They were the favorites and they dominated the race. Roglic and Vingegaard finishing the final stage together was a perfect microcosm of the whole race. Let’s wait and see if this is the year of the much awaited clash between Pogacar and Roglic in the Tour. In 2020, Pogacar wasn’t the phenom he is now and last year Roglic was forced to abandon La Grande Boucle.
Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroen) – A
It was always going to be impossible to follow Jumbo’s men up the mountains but the Australian got what he came for, in my estimation: the confidence of repetition. O’Connor has performed sensationally in 2022 and a 3rd place in the 2022 Critérium du Dauphiné will only bolster his aspirations for the Tour. His 4th place last year was a surprise but, given his current form and previous results, he’ll certainly start the 2022 Tour on everybody’s top-10 (at least).
Damiano Caruso – A & Jack Haig – C- (both from Bahrain Victorious)
These are certainly formula 1 grades – where in the weakest teams drivers measure themselves more against their own teammate than the competition. Jack Haig was carried to the podium of last year’s Vuelta by a super strong team. Damiano Caruso finished 2nd in the Giro (with a stage win) largely by himself. I don’t think it’s controversial to say Caruso’s 2022 has been better than Haig’s.
In the Dauphiné, Haig certainly didn’t show any superiority vis-a-vis the Italian. How am I supposed to interpret these results? The team clearly wants Haig as the face of Bahrain for the Grand Tours (GTs) in general and the upcoming Tour in particular. I just haven’t seen the Australian proving he deserves that opportunity. As Damiano Caruso showed in the 2022 Critérium du Dauphiné (by finishing in front of Haig), the Australian will once again have a luxury teammate to carry him up the mountains. However, in the Tour, that won’t be enough to secure him a podium place as it was in the 2021 Vuelta.
Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) – B
I keep waiting for the 2020 Tao to show up again but the Brit still seems to not be quite right. Still, an 8th place in the 2022 Critérium du Dauphiné is a step in the right direction, after the 5th in the Tour of Norway last month. It’s unlikely he’ll line up at the Tour (Ineos’ Tour team is in the Tour de Suisse right now) but a top-10 in a race like the Dauphiné is a good sign nonetheless. He and his team know way better than me his optimal calendar for the remainder of 2022. It does seem to me though, that a presence in the Vuelta to hunt for a stage win and get back to racing for 3 weeks would potentially give him the confidence he needs to tackle the GTs in 2023.
Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno X) – B
A top-10 in the GC of the 2022 Critérium du Dauphiné for a wildcard team like Uno X is a great feat. A top-10 for Tobias Johannessen not so much. This is not the first time he finishes a World Tour level stage race in the top-10 (7th in the Vuelta a Catalunya earlier in the year). I was curious to see what he could do in a more “serious” scenario, given that most of his competition here was gearing up for the Tour. He didn’t disappoint in the mountains, that’s for sure. His time trial is still very suspect. Sadly for him, this year’s time trial was huge. The combination of both was a 10th overall placement. Not bad for the rider, excellent for the team.
David Gaudu (Groupama FDJ) – D+
I know, it’s almost sacrilegious to give negative marks to a stage winner. But hear me out. I don’t think Gaudu’s goal in the 2022 Critérium du Dauphiné was to win a stage. His 2022 hasn’t been great and I think it’d have been a major confidence boost if he had been able to finish the race inside of the top-10, maybe top-5. As he was on track to do before the final stage, by the way. Instead, the French climber endured a bad day yesterday and dropped all the way to 17th overall. This seems to be a pattern with him: on his day he’s as good as anybody. But consistency is not his strong suit. Who can forget his absolutely spectacular third week of the Tour last year after dropping down in the ranking after a bad day? Let’s see if he can break this cycle in two and a half weeks.
Wilco Kelderman (Bora Hansgrohe) – D
After a gregarious Giro in support of both of his leaders, Kelderman had the opportunity to compete for a good result in the Dauphiné. An opportunity which he squandered. Maybe it wasn’t one of his goals which is fair (he already said he expects to line up at the Vuelta, later in the season) but this grade is reflective of his position inside Bora, which is rapidly deteriorating. I still think he can be an important rider for the GC for at least a couple more years but with Jai Hindley, Emmanuel Buchmann, Aleksandr Vlasov, and Sergio Higuita inside Bora, his opportunities are dwindling. Especially if he doesn’t produce.
It’d be a shame for cycling fans if he became another Steven Kruijswijk: a GC rider turned domestique way too soon, in my opinion. Hopefully he can cash in if that’s the case, at least.
TotalEnergies – A
I’m not the biggest fan of their team manager. Still don’t understand their roster construction or team tactics a lot of the time. However, they had already won a stage in the Paris-Nice earlier in the year and now added two more. For a pro-continental French team these are fantastic results. Let’s see if they can end their Tour de France stage win drought that lasts since 2012.