Special envoy to Saint-Etienne
To discover
The route of the Tour de France 2022
The general classification of the Tour de France
Profile of the stage: Saint-Etienne – Mende (192.5 km)
The route will bring back good memories to Laurent Jalabert who won in 1995 between these two cities.
The course designed by the organizers is a little shorter, 25 km, but it has kept its favorable profile for adventurers.
It is hard to see how victory could be played out in a sprint given the many bumps on the program, four third category and one second category, the Côte de la Croix Neuve (3 km at 10.2%).
A last difficulty cut for a Julian Alaphilippe but the Frenchman is not in the game this year on the Big Loop.
Saint-Etienne – Mende (192.5 km) ASO
Schedules:
Fictitious departure at 12.15 p.m. and estimated arrival at 5.21 p.m. with an average speed of 40 km/h
TV broadcast:
France 2 from 12:00 p.m. then France 3 from 12:55 p.m. and return to France 2 at 3:00 p.m.
The prognosis
We put aside the sprinters who should not have the opportunity to shine with the Jalabert climb, which is still selective.
The winner in Mende will be a complete runner, why not Tadej Pogacar who has promised to attack as soon as he gets the chance.
The 3 km climb at 10.2% may suit him to grab a few seconds at Vingegaard.
We will put a small piece on Lennard Kamna (Bora-Hansgrohe) or, why not Dylan Teuns (Bahrain Victorious) who had shown great things at the foot of the Super Planche des Belles Filles.
Not to be missed on the course:
Saint-Etienne is hosting the Tour de France for the 27th time in its history.
The city, which will also host Rugby World Cup matches at the Geoffroy-Guichard des Verts stadium, is home to a first-rate museum of modern and contemporary art with France's second-largest collection of contemporary art, nearly 20,000 works. .
Mende and its 13,100 inhabitants in the department of Lozère have already hosted the Tour de France five times in the past.
27 years ago, Laurent Jalabert had signed a spectacular solo number in the final and the Côte de la Croix Neuve, since called the Laurent Jalabert climb.
Fans of Louis de Funès will inevitably make a pilgrimage to the side of the aerodrome of Mende-Brenoux where the final scene was shot.
A cult place!
The final scene of La Grande Vadrouille in preparation.
DR
The specialty to get your teeth into:
In Saint-Etienne, taste sarrason, a white cheese, but don't leave the city without your little bag of bugnes, delicious donuts.
In Mende, a refreshment point is recommended to stock up on crunchy, these little elongated almond and hazelnut biscuits.
To end the day, opt for aligot and honey from the region.
The expression of the day: "Put a blow on the grindstone"
It's better not to be at the back of the pack when a grindstone hits the front of the race.
This is an acceleration that sometimes results in skimming runners at the back.
Ex:
“Get back in the peloton, you are too exposed to a grind at the rear!
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Tour de France records
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