It would be madness to do both, which in part explains the reason why the two are run semi-concurrently, with the last two days of the Dauphiné Libéré overlapping with the first two stages of the Tour de Suisse.
In the last six years, six-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong has participated in five editions of the Dauphiné (1999-2000, 2002-04) and just once at the Tour de Suisse (2001). During that time, he's had a 50 percent strike rate in coming out on top, beating Gilberto Simoni for the Tour de Suisse title in 2001 and winning the Dauphiné in 2002 and 2003; not a bad effort for someone who's always used the race as a warm-up for the Tour.
However, it seems that as the now 33 year-old Texan grows older, he's had to tame his voracious appetite for winning. In last year's Dauphiné, it was clear he was holding back - particularly on the fourth stage TT to Le Mont Ventoux, where he finished almost two minutes behind eventual winner Iban Mayo from Euskaltel-Euskadi. Mayo went on to a very lacklustre performance in July, eventually quitting the race, while Armstrong crushed his rivals in yet another flawless demonstration of measured strength, cunning and teamwork.
This year - his last as a professional cyclist - he's likely to do the same at Le Dauphiné: no heroics, just controlled efforts, making sure he'll be where he wants to be come the Tour. Of course, if there's an opportunity to win, don't count him out.
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Needless to say, the 2005 edition is an exciting one: two time trials and six challenging road stages spread over 1,136.4 kilometres with 12,820 metres of climbing, all held in the southeast of France and all encouraging aggressive riding.
