Gallery: Criterium du Dauphine

Photographer Kristof Ramon captured Trek-Segafredo as they raced through the mountains of south-east France

Trek-Segafredo wrapped up a tough edition of the Criterium du Dauphine, last Sunday. The race was a super-condensed version of the Tour de France – minus any flat sprinter stages – with four mountain stages, two hilly days, and a pair of time trials comprising the eight-day event.

Sport Director Dirk Demol summed up the race for the team:

“It was a tough one. We all knew that it was a very hard edition with four mountain stages; especially these last two days were incredibly difficult with over four thousand meters of climbing.

“We knew with the team we had here it would be hard and they did their best. With Gianluca (Brambilla), the Giro (d’Italia) was very hard for him and although he was strong at the end, he was also really on the limit. We were hoping he could find back the legs a little bit, especially the last two stages that were not so long here, but yesterday he was over the limit and today he abandoned.

“On the other hand, we saw (Tsgabu) Grmay and Toms (Skujins) very good and improving the last days, which is a good sign, and we had a good team time trial. We must say, of course, that in terms of results it was not good enough, but we have seen some positive things that we can work on for the next weeks.”

All photos: ©Kristof Ramon