A for Alaphilippe.
The great absentee.
The French puncher has, over the years, established himself as a key figure in the Grande Boucle.
The double world champion, who fell violently during Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April, tried to complete an uncertain race against the clock to be well and truly at the start of the Tour, with the hope of managing to pull its pin of the game, as in recent years (6 stage victories).
His Quick-Step team preferred to keep him for the end of the season.
His absence is a blow for the public of which he was the darling but also the show.
To discover
The general classification of the Tour de France
Tour de France 2022: discover the map and the route of the next edition
Read alsoTour de France: bad news for the show, Julian Alaphilippe absent from the 2022 edition
B for Bonuses.
10'', 6'' and 4'' will be awarded to the first three riders classified during the online stages.
C like Chrono.
53 km of individual time trial in total during a Tour which will start with a 13 km time trial in Copenhagen and will live its penultimate stage between Lacapelle-Marival and Rocamadour (40 km).
D for Denmark.
After the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Luxembourg, Spain, Ireland, Switzerland and Monaco, the Tour offers itself a new start abroad.
This will be the 24th departure of the Grande Boucle from abroad since Amsterdam in 1954. Waiting for Bilbao in 2023. And Florence in 2024, as the
Gazzetta dello Sport
announced ?
Denmark, host country of the Tour de France 2022. Panoraic
E for Stranger.
In addition to Denmark, the scene of the first three stages, Belgium (start of the 6th stage from Binche to Longwy) and Switzerland (Lausanne finish of the 8th stage; Aigle start of the 9th stage) will settle on the Tour route.
In France, 8 Regions and 29 departments will be visited.
F for French
.
Candidates for places of honor in the general classification (Romain Bardet, David Gaudu, Guillaume Martin, Thibaut Pinot) and stage victories (Benoît Cosnefroy, Bryan Coquard, Franck Bonnamour, Alexis Vuillermoz, Warren Barguil, etc.), the French lack neither assets nor ambition.
Last year, the French won a stage victory (Alaphilippe) and placed a rider in the Top 10 (Martin).
G like Granon
.
The Col des Alpes (11.3 km at 9.2%,) was only climbed once on the Tour in 1986. That year, Bernard Hinault dropped his last yellow jersey there, before giving his hand to Greg LeMond, the next day at the top of Alpe d'Huez.
The Tour will revisit this piece of history, with the same sequence, during the 11th (finished at the top of the Granon) and 12th stages.
H like Hautacam.
5 summit finishes will dominate the edition: the super Planche des Belles Filles (7th stage), the Col du Granon (11th stage), Alpe d'Huez (12th stage), Peyragudes (17th stage) and Hautacam (18th stage) ).
The mythical climbs of the Tour de France
Go to slideshow (10)
I for Unpublished.
Spandelles, in the Pyrenees.
After the Mont du Chat in 2017 or the Loze pass in 2020, the Tour de France will tackle an unprecedented Spandelles pass (10.3 kilometers at 8.3% average) during the 18th stage Lourdes-Hautacam.
J for Jumbo-Visma.
Collective strength.
Dane Jonas Vingegaard (2nd in the 2021 Tour) summed up after his 2nd place (behind his teammate Primoz Roglic) during the recent Critérium du Dauphiné: “
I have been confident since 2021, especially since I understood that I was able to drop Pogacar in Ventoux.
I prepared even more this year.
We will have to discuss the tactics to follow, but we have shown that we have a great team.
This will be our strength.
»
K for Kilometers.
3328 km are on the program for the 109th edition.
Read also€500,000, 9 new cities, 4 countries crossed... The key figures of the Tour de France 2022
L for Logistics.
The great departure of Denmark forced the organizers to upset the Tour calendar.
The 1st stage will take place on Friday (and not the traditional Saturday).
And after three days in Denmark, the 4th Dunkirk-Calais stage will take place on Tuesday July 5, the day before being devoted to the transfer of teams, vehicles and followers.
M for Massives.
The Vosges, the Alps, the Massif Central and the Pyrenees: four mountain ranges will be crossed during the Tour.
N like Nyborg.
The 2nd stage Roskilde (west of Copenhagen)-Nyborg will offer a grandiose panorama and a perilous playground.
The crossing of the Great Belt, the strait (18 km, 65 m above sea level) could let the wind blow and see the edges succeed one another.
Guaranteed show.
“Denmark is the northernmost start in history.
It takes a sporting justification, it is in the 2nd stage.
In the last 20 km there are two bridges in succession, that's 18 of the last 20 km over water.
It reminds me of Zeeland (in the Netherlands) on the 2015 Tour. But XXL version.
There is wind 364 days a year, it would be a shame if there weren't any on the day you pass, it can happen but I hope not", sums up Christian Prudhomme,
O for Earbuds.
Like the watts, they always come back to the table.
Synonymous with safety for some, symbol of dehumanized racing for others, the headsets will, once again, be part of the panoply of runners.
Two stages of the 2009 Tour were run without headsets.
The debate always bounces back on the heels of tied races, robbing racing and races of the fun and craziness of instinct.
The World Championships take place without headsets.
P for Cobblestones.
After four years of absence, they will come to walk their threat: 19.4 km of cobblestones during the 5th stage (Lille Métropole-Arenberg) divided into 11 sectors with a length varying from 1.3 to 2.8 km.
The Top 10 French stage winners on the Tour de France
Go to slideshow (11)
Q for Grid.
The North, the Alps and the South-West are to their advantage on the Tour map: “We cannot go to every corner of France.
Before, the Tour was more than 5,000 kilometers long, it could go just about anywhere… We go on average every five or six years to each of the regions of France, so we will come back to it, ”recalls Christian Prudhomme.
R for Rugby.
The starting site of the 19th stage Castelnau-Magnoac takes root in the stronghold of Antoine Dupont, scrum half of Stade Toulousain and the XV of France.
Castelnau-Magnoac is one of the 9 new towns on the Tour map: Copenhagen (start and finish 1st stage), Roskilde (start 2nd stage), Nyborg (finish 2nd stage), Vejle (start 3rd stage), Sonderborg (finish 3rd stage), Aigle (start 9th stage), Lacapelle-Marival (start 20th stage), Rocamadour (finish 20th stage).
Christian Prudhomme summarizes: “The Tour is made up of very large French and foreign cities, capitals, Paris, Copenhagen, large French cities (Lille, Saint-Etienne, Dunkirk) and small villages, such as Castelnau-Magnoac (departure from the 19th stage).
Here we are in the register of rugby.
From Castelnau-Magnoac,
from Antoine Dupont (who was at the start in Trïe-sur-Baïse in 2018, he was not yet the best player in the 6 Nations Tournament), whose brother has the immense advantage of participating in the revival of Le Noir de Bigorre, it's a wink.
Rugby and cycling have common values of terroir, territories, regions.
When we go to the Pyrenees, we always come across Jean-Pierre Garuet, Louisou Army, Philippe Dintrans, Jean-François Imbernon or Fabien Galthié.
It is also to tell them, even if it is far, we are pushing in the scrum behind you for the 2023 World Cup.
Last rugby nod, the start of the 20th and last stage will be given from the Arena la Défense, the stadium of Racing 92.
whose brother has the immense advantage of participating in the revival of the Noir de Bigorre, it's a wink.
Rugby and cycling have common values of terroir, territories, regions.
When we go to the Pyrenees, we always come across Jean-Pierre Garuet, Louisou Army, Philippe Dintrans, Jean-François Imbernon or Fabien Galthié.
It is also to tell them, even if it is far, we are pushing in the scrum behind you for the 2023 World Cup.
Last rugby nod, the start of the 20th and last stage will be given from the Arena la Défense, the stadium of Racing 92.
whose brother has the immense advantage of participating in the revival of the Noir de Bigorre, it's a wink.
Rugby and cycling have common values of terroir, territories, regions.
When we go to the Pyrenees, we always come across Jean-Pierre Garuet, Louisou Army, Philippe Dintrans, Jean-François Imbernon or Fabien Galthié.
It is also to tell them, even if it is far, we are pushing in the scrum behind you for the 2023 World Cup.
Last rugby nod, the start of the 20th and last stage will be given from the Arena la Défense, the stadium of Racing 92.
we always come across Jean-Pierre Garuet, Louisou Army, Philippe Dintrans, Jean-François Imbernon or Fabien Galthié.
It is also to tell them, even if it is far, we are pushing in the scrum behind you for the 2023 World Cup.
Last rugby nod, the start of the 20th and last stage will be given from the Arena la Défense, the stadium of Racing 92.
we always come across Jean-Pierre Garuet, Louisou Army, Philippe Dintrans, Jean-François Imbernon or Fabien Galthié.
It is also to tell them, even if it is far, we are pushing in the scrum behind you for the 2023 World Cup.
Last rugby nod, the start of the 20th and last stage will be given from the Arena la Défense, the stadium of Racing 92.
S for Slovenia.
The tandem TadejPogacar (UAE Team Emirates) and Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) will concentrate the eyes at the start of Copenhagen.
Pogacar is chasing after a third consecutive victory on the Tour.
Roglic (winner of Paris-Nice and the Critérium du Dauphiné this year) hopes to have turned his back on bad luck.
Primoz Roglic, Tadej Pogacar's great rival on the 2022 Tour?
Panoramic
T for Tournis.
Alpe d'Huez is always a moment apart when the 21 legendary hairpin bends land on the Tour map.
Alpe d'Huez on July 14 an emotional peak that climbers dream of.
Four years after the last passage (victory of Geraint Thomas, the first of a yellow jersey), the Tour returns, promises a peak of intoxication.
U for Ubiquity.
On July 24, the Tour de France will live its epilogue.
The traditional Champs-Elysées parade will be preceded by the 1st stage of the Tour de France women with Zwift.
The 8th and last stage of which will be, on Sunday July 31, judged at the top of the Super Planche des Belle Filles (like the 7th stage of the Tour).
Another common point.
V like Van der Poel.
The Dutchman dazzled and dynamited the Tour last year (1 stage victory and 6 days in yellow).
Raymond Poulidor's grandson then left the Grande Boucle dreaming of gold at the Tokyo Olympics in mountain biking.
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) returns to the Tour equipped with the same determination.
The first week has everything to please him, like Wout Van Aert.
Mathieu Van der Poel, the blaster of the first week of the Tour de France?
Panoramic
Read alsoParis-Roubaix: Mathieu Van der Poel facing his family album
W for Wildcards.
TotalEnergies and B&B Hotels have obtained the two invitation cards from the organizers to complete the field and compose the 22 teams that will be on the starting line on July 1st.
X like X(XL).
As in 2019, the arrival at La Planche des Belles Filles will be judged after a last wild section in gravel.
A difficulty that had unseated the riders in 2019. The Planche des Belles Filles on the Tour course for the 6th time since 2012 offers itself a new opportunity to unfold the extensions, its formidable second blade.
The “Super” Planche des Belles Filles in its XXL version, the first summit of the Tour for an initial evaluation of the forces.
In 2020, during the last passage, on a time trial, Tadej Pogacar had, the day before the arrival in Paris, stripped Primoz Roglic of his yellow jersey.
Y like Yates (Adam).
In the absence of Egan Bernal, the Briton will be one of the protected runners of the Ineos formation.
Ten years ago, the team managed by Dave Brailsford won the first of its 7 Tours de France.
2019, with Egan Bernal being the last (the team was back on the podium last year with Richard Carapaz's 3rd place), before Tadej Pogacar's takeover...
Z like Zoom.
On Christopher Froome, quadruple winner of the Tour (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017), has since a terrible fall on the Critérium du Dauphiné in 2019 never regained the level which allowed him to reign on the Tour.
Anonymous 133rd last year, he will always advance without landmarks this year.