Key points:
 They battled it out in the 2022 edition of the Vuelta, then at the start of the season, they were deprived of an actual confrontation in Paris-Nice and even more so in the Tour of the Basque Country, which they retired in the same crash: Primoz Primož Roglič and Remco Evenepoel intend to return to competition in the Critérium du Dauphiné… but at what level of performance?
 Whether they are riding at their maximum potential or slightly behind in their preparation for the Tour de France, the two favourites will have some seriously proper rivals to contend with, including 2023 Vuelta winner Sepp Kuss, the highly promising Spaniards Juan Ayuso and Carlos Rodriguez, Great Britain’s Tao Geoghegan Hart, France’s David Gaudu and Guillaume Martin, Colombia’s Santiago Buitrago and Austria’s Felix Gall.

Prognosticators and analysts sometimes have no choice but to grope their way forward. Such is the case in the run-up to the Critérium du Dauphiné 2024, where the leader’s jersey, to be worn on the final podium on the Plateau des Glières on Sunday, 9 June, less than three weeks before the first stages of the Tour de France, seems to be particularly open to the appetites of the contenders. The hierarchy, which is usually defined in broad strokes and gradually over the first part of the season, blew up in April at the Tour of the Basque Country, where a crash disrupted the build-up of the two leading favourites in the race, as well as defending champion Jonas Vingegaard, who has had to put his return to competition on hold. Primož Roglič was the least affected. He had time to show real signs of performance by winning the opening stage and even leading the general classification when his season was brutally interrupted. Perhaps the two months‘ resumption of activity will have enabled the Slovenian to return to perfect condition and finally show his full potential in the Bora-Hansgrohe jersey. With the support of climbers of the calibre of Jai Hindley and Aleksandr Vlasov, the winner of the 2022 Dauphiné has all he needs to do it again, or at least to wage a more balanced fight than he did in Paris-Nice with Remco Evenepoel. The former world champion left the Basque country with a fractured scapula and collarbone. The injury prevented him from lining up for Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but not from fine-tuning his condition in Sierra Nevada to try and do even better than he did in Paris-Nice, where he was pleased to finish runner-up to Matteo Jorgenson in the general classification, win the final stage, the green and polka-dot jerseys.

For the second major race of his career on French roads, the Soudal-Quick Step leader will be in Tour configuration, surrounded in the mountains by lieutenants such as Mikel Landa and Ilan Van Wilder. But in this respect, several leaders will have arguments in their favour, starting with Sepp Kuss, who will inherit the number 1 bib and will be able to rely on top-class teammates in Matteo Jorgenson and Steven Kruijswijk. The UAE Team Emirates line-up is just as strong, with Juan Ayuso (the winner in the Basque Country!) leading the way, accompanied by Marc Soler and Pavel Sivakov. Over at Ineos Grenadiers, Carlos Rodriguez showed with his victory in the Tour de Romandie that he was ready to continue his progression after his breakthrough last year (5th in the Tour de France). Groupama-FDJ is counting on a return to form for David Gaudu to emerge at the top of the general classification, while Lidl-Trek is placing its faith in its recruit this year, Tao Geoghegan Hart, winner of the 2020 Giro, to join the battle for the summits with the help of Giulio Ciccone. Among the most closely watched outsiders, Santiago Buitrago is Colombia’s best chance of riding in yellow during the final weekend if he performs at the same level as in Paris-Nice, without the drama.

22 teams, main contenders (on 24 May)

Australia
Team Jayco AlUla: Durbridge, Harper (Aus)

Bahreïn
Bahrain-Victorious: Buitrago (Col), Haig (Aus), Tiberi (Ita)

Belgium
Soudal-Quick Step: Evenepoel, Van Wilder (Bel), Landa (Spa), Masnada (Ita)
Lotto Dstny: Kron (Den), De Gendt (Bel)
Alpecin-Deceuninck: Laurance (Fra), Boven (Ned)
Intermarché-Wanty: Meintjes (Zaf), Zimmermann (Ger)

France
Décathlon – AG2R La Mondiale: Gall (Aut), Bennett (Irl), Godon (Fra)
Groupama-FDJ: Gaudu, Madouas, Grégoire (Fra)
Cofidis: Martin, Elissonde (Fra)
Team Arkéa-B&B Hotels: Champoussin, Sénéchal (Fra), Cr. Rodríguez (Spa)

Germany
BORA-hansgrohe: Roglič (Slo), Hindley (Aus), Vlasov

Great Britain
Ineos Grenadiers: Ca. Rodríguez, Fraile (Spa), Tarling (Gbr)

Israel
Israel-Premier Tech: Froome (Gbr), Fuglsang (Den), Teuns (Bel)

Kazakhstan
Astana-Qazaqstan Team: Tejada (Col), Charmig (Den)

The Netherlands
Visma | Lease a Bike: Kuss, Jorgenson (Usa), Benoot (Bel)
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL: Barguil (Fra), Poole (Gbr)

Norway
Uno-X Mobility: T. Johannessen (Nor)

Spain
Movistar Team: Formolo (Ita), García Cortina (Spa)

Switzerland
Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team: Donovan (Gbr), Ludvigsson (Swe)

United Arab Emirates
UAE Team Emirates: Ayuso, Soler (Spa), Sivakov (Fra), Politt (Ger)

USA
EF Education-Easypost: Uran (Col), Doull (Gbr)
Lidl-Trek: Geoghegan Hart (Gbr), Ciccone (Ita), Pedersen (Den), Skujins (Lat)