The second Grand Tour of the 2022 men's mountain bike racing season, the 109th Tour de France, kicked off on Friday (July 1) in Copenhagen, Denmark and will end as usual in Paris on Sunday, July 24.
The medalists at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics - Tadej Pogacar, Primoz Roglic and Wout van Aert are notable names in the race with a total length of more than 3,300km over 21 stages. There are 5 mountain climbs, 2 individual time trips and 6 level trips.
Currently, Slovenia's Pogacar is aiming to win the overall yellow shirt for the third consecutive year, catching up with the most recent achievement of 4-time champion Chris Froome (2015, 2016, 2017).
After being postponed last year due to the EURO 2020 schedule, Denmark will become the 10th country to host the Grand Depart. The journey of the 2022 tournament will also go to Belgium (phase 6) and Switzerland (phase 8 and 9), for the first time since 2017, Tour de France will go through 4 different countries.
About 176 runners will participate, each of the 22 teams will have 8 cranes. This season, there is one team less than in 2021.
Notable curves
Tadej Pogacar: The bronze medalist in the 2022 Grand Boucle Olympic school race as the most promising candidate. The Slovakian racer has won every race he has participated in this season ( Tour UAE, Tirreno-Adritico, Tour of Slovenia) and strived to score a winning hat-trick in the Tour when he was just 23.
Primoz Roglic: The Tokyo 2020 gold medalist had to give up racing last year after an accident. The former badminton player seemed to have recovered from a knee injury to win Criterium du Dauphine.
Daniel Martinez: With Egan Bernal still recovering from a terrible training accident, his Colombian is ready to become the leader of the Ineos Grenadiers team.
Jonas Vingegaard: The 25-year-old Cua ro came in second in 2021, and this season, with two runner-up positions at tirreno-Adritico and Dauphine, shows that he is ready to step up if his teammates at Jumbo-Visma, Roglic, are not fit.
Aleksandr Vlasov: After Jai hindley's success at the Giro d'Italia, Bora-Hansgrohe's hope of winning his second Grand Tour this year is on the shoulders of the Russian racer. Vlasov has had impressive victories at volta a la communeitat Valenciana and Tour de Romandie.
Important stages
Tour de France 2022 begins with a 13km technical time trial along the streets of Copenhagen. This stage has experts such as the reigning world champion Filippo Ganna, Stefan Bissegger of Switzerland (EF Education-Easy post) and the two-time world medalist Van Aert.
After two more legs in Denmark, the race will continue in France on Tuesday, July 5, and a day later in the fifth leg, the visitors' leg will return for the first time since 2018. The first week is marked by an end in the mountains, at Super Planche des Belles Filles. The next two legs will go to Switzerland, including the finish at the Olympic Stadium in Lausanne.
In the second week, the group advanced deeper into the Alps with 2 consecutive mountain climbs. In the 11th stage, the runners will climb Col du Telegraphe and Col du Galibier (the highest point of the race at an altitude of 2,642m) before finishing on the top of Col du Granon; the 12th stage on French National Day (Bastille Day) will end on the top of Alpe d'Huez for the first time in 5 years.
The Tour will then move through Massif Central towards the Pyrenees with a final day off in Carcassonne. The two more climbing stages, the 17th (Peyragudes) and the 18th (Hautacam), will bring the final opportunity for climbers before the 20th stage will compete for individual time.
The final leg ends in Paris and will see the final sprinters on the Champs-Elysees.
Specific schedule at Tour de France 2022
July 1: Stage 1 - Copenhagen-Copenhagen (hourly race, 13.2 km)
2.7: Phase 2 - Roskilde-Nyborg (202.5km)
3.7: Phase 3 Vejle-Sonderborg (182km)
4.7: Rest
5.7: Phase 4 - Dunkerque-Calais (171.5km)
6.7: Round 5 - Lille Metropole-Arenburg Porte du Hainaut (157km)
7.7: Stage 6 - Binche-Longwhy (220km)
8.7: Phase 7 - Tomblaine-La Super Planche de Belle Filles (176.5km)
9.7: Route 8 - Dole-Lausanne (186.5km)
10.7: Stage 9 Aigle-Chatelles Portes du Soleil (193km)
11.7: Rest
12.7: Stage 10 Morzine Les Portes du Soleil-Megeve (148.5km)
13.7: Round 11 - Albertville- Col du Granon Serre Chevalier (152km)
14.7: Stage 12 - Briancon-Alpe d'Huez (165.5km)
15.7: Round 13 - Le Bourg d'Oisans - Saint Etienne (193km)
16.7: Round 14 - Saint Etienne-Mende (192.5km)
17.7: Round 15 - Rodez-Carcassonne (202.5km)
18.7: break
19.7: Round 16 - Carcassonne-Foix (178.5km)
20.7: Stage 17 - Saint- Gaudens-Peyragudes (130km)
21.7: Stage 18 - Lourdes-Hautacam (143.5km)
22.7: Stage 19 castelnau-Magnoac Cahors (188.5km)
23.7: Stage 20 - Lacapelle- Marival - Rocamadour (hour race, 40.7km)
24.7: Round 21 - Paris La Defense Arena - Paris Champs Elysees (116km)
