Form guide or curse? - Tracking the Tour fortunes of recent Dauphiné winners

Twelve riders have won the Dauphiné before conquering La Grande Boucle in July. The first rider to do so was Louison Bobet in 1955, the year that the Frenchman completed his Tour hat-trick. Hinault did so twice in 1979 and 1981, while Froome made it a regular habit in three of his four Tour-winning years, in 2013, 2015 and 2016.

Other riders to complete the feat include Jacques Anquetil (1963), Eddy Merckx (1971), Luis Ocaña (1973), Bernard Thévenet (1975), Miguel Induráin (1995), Bradley Wiggins (2012), Geraint Thomas (2018), Jonas Vingegaard (2023) and, most recently, Tadej Pogačar (2025) last year.

Between them, Pogačar and Vingegaard have won the last six editions of the Tour. With Vingegaard fresh off winning the Giro and Pogačar targeting a debut at the Tour de Suisse, neither will appear at the Dauphiné. Therefore, the odds of a rider completing the historic June-July double in 2026 look exceedingly slim given the dominance of Pogačar and Vingegaard in the 2020s come July. 

Tadej Pogačar returned to the Dauphiné for only the second time in his career, marking his first appearance since transforming into one of the greatest riders in the history of the sport. 

The reigning World Champion faced strong competition against the two men expected to be his fiercest challengers in July: Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel.

After making an immediate statement by winning the opening stage, Pogačar unexpectedly shipped valuable seconds during the Stage 4 individual time trial, a blip that raised a few eyebrows. However, he emphatically silenced any doubts by storming back to win two of the final three mountain stages, sealing the Dauphiné overall title for the first time in his career.

Pogačar went on to dominate the Tour to claim his fourth maillot jaune, while the final podium in Paris mirrored the Dauphiné's top three of Pogačar, Vingegaard, and Florian Lipowitz.

Having made a high-profile switch from Visma to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe after eight successful seasons, Primož Roglič’s mandate was clear: challenge Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard at the Tour de France.

In his final preparation race, Roglič won the Dauphiné for the second time, adding to his crown in 2022. Yet, despite winning two stages, the race came down to the wire.  Roglič was forced to fight tooth and nail to hold his lead on the final stage against Matteo Jorgenson, who had distanced him on the run-in to Plateau des Glières. 

Ultimately, Roglič dug deep and did just enough to win by 8 seconds and take a much-desired victory ahead of the Tour. 

However, just like in 2022, misfortune struck once more in the Tour with Roglič abandoning before the start of stage 13 after suffering a crash in the finale of stage 12. 

It marked a heartbreaking third consecutive abandon from the Tour for the Slovenian star, reinforcing the race's status as a bittersweet indicator of his summer fortunes.

Having dethroned Tadej Pogačar in the previous summer at La Grande Boucle, Jonas Vingegaard arrived at the 2023 Dauphiné gearing up for the defence of his Tour title. 

It was a successful Dauphiné for the Dane, who won two stages and put on a masterclass in aggressive stage racing. He soloed to an emphatic victory on Stage 5 to Salins-les-Bains to seize the leader's jersey and duplicated that dominance with a brutal mountain assault on Stage 7 at Croix de Fer.

In a league of his own across the high-altitude terrain, Vingegaard ultimately steamrolled the general classification, leaving runner-up Adam Yates drifting in his wake by a massive 2 minutes and 23 seconds.

Vingegaard would go on to defend his Tour crown against Pogačar, becoming the eleventh rider to complete the Dauphiné-Tour double and the first since Geraint Thomas in 2018. 

After Primož Roglič was forced to abandon the 2021 Tour due to a heavy crash, Jonas Vingegaard stepped into the leadership vacuum for Jumbo-Visma, sensationally securing second overall behind Tadej Pogačar.

Meanwhile, Roglič crushed the disappointing memories of July to complete a hat-trick of Vuelta a España victories. Therefore, confidence in a 2022 Tour victory was at an all-time high when the duo finished first and second in the Dauphiné just weeks out from the main event. 

The crowning moment was the final stage to Plateau de Solaison, where the duo finished side by side, Vingegaard taking the stage win, and Roglič the overall. 

The Tour was a completely different story, though, as Roglič was once more the recipient of misfortune, abandoning the race on stage 15, eleven days after suffering a nasty fall on the cobble stage to Wallers-Arenberg. 

Despite the absence of Roglič in the final week, Vingegaard and Visma had enough strength to seal their first Tour de France victory. 

Richie Porte claimed eight WorldTour stage race victories throughout his stellar career, and the final crown came at the 2021 Dauphiné.

Having secured a historic podium finish at the 2020 Tour de France, the Australian entered the twilight of his career by returning to Ineos Grenadiers after five seasons away. The 2021 Dauphiné was a tight edition with Porte narrowly beating Alexey Lutsenko by 17 seconds while his teammate Geraint Thomas rounded out the podium in third. 

Come July, Porte pivoted back to his roots as an elite mountain domestique, pouring his June form into supporting Richard Carapaz.

The Ecuadorian finished third overall behind Pogačar and Vingegaard, the same position Porte had secured the previous campaign. 

Meanwhile, Porte himself crossed the line in 38th place overall. It would prove to be the eleventh and final Tour de France appearance of the Australian's career before he officially hung up his racing wheels at the end of 2022.