Seeking to use the race as a chance to compete on Corsican soil prior to the Tour de France start there, some of cycling’s top names have been confirmed by ASO as taking part in this month’s Critérium International.
The race organiser, which also runs the Tour itself, has announced that several of those who will compete for overall honours in the Tour will take part in the two day race, which comprises two road race stages plus a time trial.
The lineup includes former Tour de France winners Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team), who will start as defending champion, Alberto Contador (Team Saxo Tinkoff) and Andy Schleck (RadioShack Leopard), although the latter’s participation is yet to be confirmed by his team.
Also listed to ride are Chris Froome (Sky), who was runner up in last year’s Tour, his Paris-Nice winning team-mate Richie Porte, Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team), Andrew Talansky and Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp).
Of those, Porte and Talansky finished first and second in the recent Paris-Nice race, while Jean Christop Péraud picked up third and will represent his Ag2r La Mondiale team in the race.
Last year’s runner up Pierrick Fédrigo is returning with the aim of winning the event for his FDJ squad, while French hopes will also be based around the likes of Europcar’s Thomas Voeckler and Pierre Rolland. National champion Nacer Bouhanni will take on the likes of Theo Bos (Blanco Pro Cycling) for a stage win.
Five time race winner Jens Voigt (RadioShack Leopard) is also coming back and will likely be as popular as ever with the fans.
The line-up thus far is as follows:
Colombia (COL): Atapuma, Pantano (COL)
Team Saxo-Tinkoff (TST/Denmark): Contador (ESP), Rogers (AUS)
BMC Racing Team (BMC/USA): Evans (AUS), Moinard (FRA), Van Garderen (USA)
Garmin-Sharp (GRS/USA): Talansky (USA), Martin (IRL)
AG2R La Mondiale (ALM/France): Bardet, Péraud, Gadret (FRA)
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits (COF/France): Coppel (FRA), Taaramäe (EST)
FDJ (FDJ/France): Fédrigo, Bouhanni (FRA)
Bretagne-SecheEnvironnement (BSE/France): Koretzky, Lequatre, Vachon (FRA)
Sojasun (SOJ/France): Hivert, Pauriol (FRA)
Team Europcar (EUC/France): Rolland, Voeckler (FRA)
Team La Pomme Marseille (LPM/France): Gonçalves (POR)
Sky ProCycling (SKY/Great Britain): Froome (GBR), Porte (AUS)
RadioShack-Nissan (RLT/Luxembourg): A. Schleck (LUX), Monfort (BEL), Klöden, Voigt (GER)
Blanco Pro Cycling Team (BLA/Netherlands): Bos, Kelderman (NED), Bobridge (AUS), L. L. Sánchez (ESP)
Team Argos-Shimano (ARG/Netherlands): Barguil (FRA), Geschke (GER)
IAM Cycling (IAM/Switzerland): Denifl (AUT), Tschopp (SUI)
Stages:
Saturday, March 23:
Stage 1: Porto-Vecchio> Porto-Vecchio, 89 km
Stage 2: Porto-Vecchio> Porto Vecchio, 7 km (ITT)
Sunday, March 24:
Stage 3: Porto-Vecchio> Col de l’Ospedale, 176 km