Tour de France 2022 route: Every stage assessed for bruising 109th edition

The 2022 Tour de France is here with 21 thrilling stages of racing for the riders to sink their teeth into as the battle for the yellow jersey gets underway.

The race will cover a total of 3,328km, and feature five altitude finishes, two time trials, five (perhaps six) sprint stages and plenty of opportunities for breakaway artists and puncheurs alike. After three days in Denmark and the most northerly Grand Depart in Tour history, there will be additional forays into Belgium and Switzerland.

In addition to the five summit finishes, there will be a total of 29 first, second and hors categorie climbs on the menu as the 109th edition of the race passes through the mountainous regions of the Vosges, Alps, Massif Central and Pyrenees.

There will be a total of 53.9km against the clock split between the opening stage and the penultimate stage, while, after a four-year absence, there will be 19.4km of cobbles split across 11 sectors in the fifth stage between Lille and Arenberg. The first, second and third riders across the line each day will receive time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds respectively.

Starting on Friday July 1 and finishing on Sunday July 24, the race will also feature three rest days to accommodate the transfer back from Denmark to France on Monday July 4. Below is a summary of the route ahead of an individual focus on each of the 21 stages…

This pan-flat opening time trial doesn’t rise higher than 15 metres above sea level although it has no fewer than 23 tight turns packed into just over 13km of riding in the centre of the Danish capital. If Filippo Ganna will be favourite to don a career-first yellow jersey on his Tour debut, then Kasper Asgreen could give the local crowds something to cheer should the Italian specialist have a bad day.

Three early Cat. 4 climbs will give a polka-dot prize as an added incentive to the breakaway but the real action will come towards the end on the 18km long Great Belt crossing of the Kattegat Sea ahead of the finish. Remember how similar exposed coastal roads in Zeeland blew the race apart during the Dutch Grand Depart back in 2015? Well, this could be even more feisty.

Playing out near the coast of the Jutland peninsula this stage shouldn’t be as windy as the previous test and so we can expect a regular bunch finish. In an ideal scenario for the home fans, Danish powerhouse Mads Pedersen would be in yellow for this after winning Stage 2. But pure sprinters Fabio Jakobsen and Jasper Philipsen will be favourites on this kind of finish.

Coming very close to the Belgian border, the first stage on French soil starts and finishes beside the sea but includes six Cat. 4 climbs along the way which won’t make it plain sailing for the sprinters. Wind could be an issue as the race returns to the coast after the Boulonnais hills, while the final climb, 11km from the finish, averages a punchy 7.5%. Mathieu van der Poel will love this parcours.

To be fair, Van der Poel will love this parcours even better! 11 sections of cobbles for a total of around 20km of pavé will give this stage something of a mini Paris-Roubaix feel. The last time cobbles featured on the Tour saw Germany’s John Degenkolb take the spoils in Roubaix back in 2018 after a sensational day of action – including an acrobatic crash for Chris Froome. Expect similar levels of drama – especially if it rains.

The longest stage of the race is an undulating trek through the Ardennes culminating with a punchy uphill finish in the most Welsh-sounding town in France. The Mur de Pulventeux (800m at 12.3% just 6km from the finish) should shred the peloton ahead of a reduced uphill sprint on the Cote des Religieuses which, at 5.8% over 1.6km, is a tougher test than when the Tour last came to Longwy for Stage 3 in 2017, won by Peter Sagan.

For the sixth time in 11 years a stage of the Tour will finish atop the Vosges climb where Tadej Pogacar secured the yellow jersey on the penultimate day in 2020 after terrorising compatriot Primoz Roglic on the deciding time trial. Two Cat. 3 climbs and a couple of uncategorised hills precede the first summit finish of the race which, as was the case in 2019 when Dylan Teuns took the spoils, includes the additional unpaved double-digit ramp that gives it “Super” status.

After leaving the Jura via the Cote des Rousses the race enters Switzerland ahead of a gentle climb and a fast downhill ride towards Lausannes. Here in the so-called Olympic capital the riders face an uphill finish that shouldn’t pose too many problems: a 4.8km climb at a forgiving 4.6%. This atypical parcours favours neither sprinters nor climbers, so expect a breakaway to go the distance with a puncheur taking the win.

The first authentic mountain test? For sure – although it’s not exactly a summit showdown what with that downhill segment ahead of the final gentle rise to the line at Chatel. Three climbs of increasing difficulty in Switzerland precede the final showdown on the Pas de Morgins, part way up of which the riders return over the border into France. This is very much a watered down opening day in the Alps, but as it’s followed by a rest day there’s certainly scope for an ambush.

None of these climbs warrant a change of bib shorts but it will be a stunning day for the viewers, especially with the aerial helicopter shots as the race drops down towards Lake Geneva. The final climb at the altiport above the plush ski resort of Megeve featured in the final stage of the 2020 Dauphine when Sepp Kuss took a fine solo win ahead of overall winner Dani Martinez and a Slovenian chap called Tadej Pogacar, a fortnight before his debut Tour.

Finally, the first proper Alpine test. The picture-postcard Lacets de Montvernier provide the canapés and the Col du Telegraph the starter ahead of a main course that really packs a punch: dual hors categorie ascents of the Col du Galibier and the Col du Granon. At 2,413m high, the Granon hosted what was the highest finish in the Tour’s history in 1986 when Spain’s Eduardo Chozas triumphed. This was outdone 25 years later when Andy Schleck won Stage 18 atop the Galibier (2,645m). Will combining them both on one day make up for earlier lack of high-altitude tests? Time will tell.

The organisers ramp up the difficulty level with a queen stage that features three consecutive HC tests as the race heads for a summit finish on Alpe d’Huez for the first time since Geraint Thomas won in yellow back in 2018. It’s a carbon copy of the legendary 1986 stage when Bernard Hinault crossed the line arm-in-arm with team-mate Greg LeMond, with the riders tackling the Galibier from the other side ahead of the Croix de Fer and those infamous 21 hairpin bends.

Three lower-category climbs, numerous lumps and bumps, plus some long plateaus and downhill sections pepper the menu as the Tour bids farewell to the Alps and enters the sweltering Massif Central. None of the ascents are too taxing and so this could well come down to a bunch sprint and a battle for the green jersey – highly apt in a city whose football team are known as Les Verts.

A breakaway-friendly day over the peaks of the Massif Central features four Cat. 3 tests ahead of the final Cat. 2 rise towards the airfield at Mende. It was here, on the Cote de la Croix Neuve (or Montee Jalabert, to use its nickname), where Steve Cummings pickpocked French duo Romain Bardet and Thibaut Pinot back in 2015 for a memorable win for MTN-Qhubeka on Mandela Day. An average gradient of over 10% will make this an important day for the GC contenders, too.

There are enough undulations during this long and potentially scorching day to give the breakaway a fighting chance but the odds will be in favour of the teams of the sprinters to bring things back together before the finale in Carcassonne. Mark Cavendish won here last year but in his expected absence the smart money will be on his Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team-mate Fabio Jakobsen.

After the third rest day, the final phase of the Tour gets underway with a swelter-slog through the foothills of the Pyrenees to the fortified town of Foix. The tried-and-tested combo of the Port de Lers and Mur de Peguere will be the perfect battlefield for the yellow jersey and stage spoils alike ahead of a fast downhill run towards Foix, where Warren Barguil memorably won on Bastille Day back in 2017.

The first of back-to-back summit finishes in the Pyrenees is this achingly beautiful and brutally arduous ring-of-fire to Peyragues via the Col d’Arpin, Hourquette d’Ancizan and Col de Val Louron-Azet. Near the top of the Peyresourde, the riders will swing to the right and join the road to this Tour’s third airstrip finale at Peyragudes. Alejandro Valverde (2012) and Romain Bardet (2017) are the only previous winners on this gravity-defying ramp.

Another short-but-sharp day in the Pyrenees includes the mythical Col d’Aubisque in combination with the Col de Spandelles for the very first time in Tour history. The new climb is 10.3km long with an average gradient of 8.3% and will be the springboard ahead of the final uphill test of the race, the HC ascent to Hautacam, back after an eight-year absence. Vincenzo Nibali won here in yellow in 2014 – can we expect a similar scenario with whomever may be in the maillot jaune?

An extra sprint two days from Paris will give the sprinters an obvious incentive to get through the Pyrenees. It’s only fair given the relative paucity of scope for bunch gallops in the preceding two-and-a-half weeks. Two Cat. 4 climbs shouldn’t prove too much of a problem on the road to Cahors where the focus will be on green more than yellow.

If Pogacar had the climb to La Planche des Belles Filles to exploit on his way to grabbing the yellow jersey from his compatriot Roglic’s shoulders at the 11th hour in 2020 then he won’t have the same platform two years on. While there are two small ascents just outside Racamadour, they’re nothing in comparison to the 6km climb where Roglic’s dreams went up in smoke, and this otherwise flat 40.4km race against the clock is certainly one for the specialists.

The final leg of the race will actually start with the Arc de Triomphe in sight – although a long celebratory loop south via Versailles will spirit the riders away from the La Defense business district before returning to Paris ahead of the traditional eight laps of the Champs-Elysees circuit. In an unprecedented double-bill, the Tour’s showpiece finale will be preceded by the first stage of the first edition of the women’s Tour de France Femmes on the same circuit in the heart of Paris.

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