IMHO Remco needs to show SOMETHING in the Dauphine; it's not realistic to use the race simply for training and expect to be at his sharpest for the Tour. Preferably try to crush the TT, along with seeing how well he's able to follow in the mountains without going super deep. He obviously doesn't want to be at his tippy-top right now the but the Tour is 4 weeks away, not 4 months. If he gets into significant trouble in any one of these stages as far as I'm concerned he will have no chance of competing seriously for GC in July. Just my .02 of course.