Dan Martin and Nicolas Roche both face a big test in France starting tomorrow at the Critérium du Dauphiné, with five days in the shortened 2020 edition.
While the race is three stages shorter than last year the owners, ASO, have stripped out the flat days and the TT stage leaving five days of uphill or summit finishes; something that will make the race harder and hopefully more exciting.
It is set to conclude with two stages that finish at Megève, though so many climbs feature on the route each day there should be plenty of entertainment long before the action reaches next weekend.
As always, the Dauphiné will once again prove a Tour de France dress rehearsal for the climbers, and an opportunity for Jumbo Visma and Team Ineos to clash just days after the Dutch team got the upper hand of the British squad at Tour de l'Ain.
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However, both Roche and Martin could also take a stage win from the race while other riders - most notably Julian Alaphilippe, Mikel Landa, Tadej Pogačar,Thibaut Pinot, Rigoberto Uran, Miguel Ángel López, Nairo Quintana and Adam Yates - will look to upset the two power teams in the sport at present.
Dan Martin has won a stage at the Dauphiné in the past and finished 3rd overall twice. This year he is changing tack and aiming for stage wins at the Tour rather than the overall.
The next five days offer a perfect opportunity to get a confidence-boosting performance, even a stage win, in the bag.
The race will also be an interesting one for Nicolas Roche, who looked in strong form in the early season races, saying his longer than usual break over the winter, due to his Vuelta crash after he'd led the race, had left him feeling fresher than ever.
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He told stickybottle last week he was feeling good about the return to racing and based on his early season form, and the fact he felt his lock-down period had gone well, he will hope to perform as the Tour de France nears.
The fact the general classification battle will be so intense, and that Roche's Team Sunweb has no clear contender for overall victory, means the Dauphiné may bring chances for him to take a result.
However, Roche's big goal for the first part of the compacted season is the Tour de France and the main purpose of the Dauphiné will be to build his condition towards the French Grand Tour.
The race should be a fascinating one with such a collection of top climbers and general classification men in the field, and without any stages where they can dial down their focus given the climbing to be contended with each day.
The most interesting clash will be that between Team Ineos and Jumbo Visma. Primoz Roglic is fresh for overall victory, not to mention two stage wins, at Tour de l'Ain and he and Egan Bernal are the favourites going into the Dauphiné.
However, it is the performance of the others in the Team Ineos line-up that will be as closely watched - including Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas - given how much more superior Jumbo Visma was at the Tour de l'Ain.
At times Bernal was the only Team Ineos rider left in the select group when Jumbo Visma still had four. Jonathan Castroviejo shone for Team Ineos in being the main asset helping Bernal.
He's back again for the Dauphiné, with Froome, Thomas and Bernal. And they are joined by Michał Kwiatkowski, Pavel Sivakov and Dylan van Baarle in a very strong line-up.
At Jumbo Visma, Roglic is again joined by Tom Dumoulin, Robert Gesink and Steven Kruijswijk, who rode very well at Tour de l'Ain. Strade Binache and Milan-Sanremo winner Wout van Aert also comes into the line-up along with Tony Martin and Sepp Kuss.
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