Israel Start-Up Nation will jump to the Dauphina Criterium today - significant preparation for the Tour de France • Guy Niv before the challenge: "This is exactly what I need"

• The Sun La Dupina vehicle

  Photo: 

  Noa Arnon

In recent months, Guy Niv has been grinding the ascents to Mount Hermon from almost every possible angle. After succeeding in taking off from Israel he landed in Andorra directly to a training camp in the mountains and continued to dig endless ascents. All this suffering has a purpose, and the path to it will begin today in the French Criterium Dauphina (, 15:45 Eurosport. (2

Dauphiné is traditionally considered the best preparation race for the Tour de France, which opens at the end of the month. Five cruel passages that will all end in ascents (27 in total in the race) and bitter battles, on the way to the answer to the question Who is ready for the biggest column in the world after the corona break?

Guy Niv's task is "simple" - to give a great physical and mental show and prove to the sports directors that he is the right Israeli for the lineup. What will stand in his way? A cluster of some of the best climbing riders in the world, including former column winners (Chris Fromm and Grant Thomas) or current (Bernal Basin) and a host of other top riders from the world. Everyone, by the way, will arrive with the same goal as his - to prove that they are ready for the prestigious mission of the season.

"Niv will have to find out why his body is capable and push himself to cope with it," said the team's sporting director, Frenchman Lionel Marie. .

Guy Niv. "The virus requires a lot of flexibility" // Photo: Noa Arnon 

"Now this is exactly what I need," Niv told Israel Today, "I would have been happy if things had worked out a little more like our original plan, but the Corona virus situation required a lot of flexibility. "Really waiting specifically for Dopina, it's a very big race in itself. The column is in the background, but I'm totally in focus for these five sections. I know that if I show good abilities, it will give the team another reason to take me to the column."

Is the effect of the corona and its new laws felt in you?

"Sure, there are regular checks and an unequivocal requirement to walk around with masks but we are cyclists, we are pedantic in our character and try to keep our bubble as sterile as possible. There are no face-to-face interviews with journalists or group presentations, but inside the bubble we are fine."

One of Niv's tasks, beyond trying to get into escapes and put a little pressure on the platoon, would be to keep Dan Martin in a way that would allow him to try to compete at the top of the overall rankings in the race. "I would have been happy to see myself in one or two escapes," Niv referred to what was expected of him in Dauphina, "but of course I will have to talk to the team managers and see what their demands are of me in each section."

Alongside Niv, the Sun Group was an experienced and high-quality vehicle led by the Irishman Dan Martin and the German duo Andre Greifel and Nils Politt. The seven will be completed by Hugo Hofstetter (France), Mats Schmidt (Denmark) and Sun's veteran Latvian rider Christs Nylands.

"I know that for me, too, it is a test to see how I cope with what awaits me here," Niv continued, "I believe I will deal with it successfully, but I have to prove it every day."