Special envoy to Carcassonne
To discover
The route of the Tour de France 2022
The general classification of the Tour de France
A man's business.
Like Nicolas Ribowski's film.
At the foot of the Pyrenees, a Tour crushed by the heat, nervous, indomitable, sees the obstacles arise.
The Pyrenean triptych (between Carcassonne and Foix, bristling with the port of Lers and the Mur de Péguère, Tuesday, before the arrivals at the summit of Peyragudes on Wednesday, then Hautacam this Thursday) will offer Dane Jonas Vingegaard and Slovenian Tadej Pogacar a setting of dreams and fertile ground to fight it out.
In turn, Tadej Pogacar (Yellow jersey for four days, after the 6th stage) then Jonas Vingegaard (leader after undressing his rival on the evening of a legendary stage at the top of the Granon, 11th stage) gave the impression to have strangled the suspense.
Before being weakened.
By the loss of two team members (tested positive for Covid-19 in Pogacar's UAE Team Emirates team; injured in the Jumbo-Visma formation on the Vingegaard side).
And grueling episodes.
Jonas Vingegaard, who had almost lost everything on the cobblestones of the 5th stage (victim of a mechanical incident, he had been forced to change bikes twice), fell on Sunday during the 15th, arriving in Carcassonne.
If it only deplores a few scratches on the left side,
An indecisive duel
Tadej Pogacar, after avoiding a fall (2nd stage) and having, without difficulty, collided with a barrier, ran out of fuel (when he lost 2'51” in the Col du Granon).
The Tour is moving forward.
Cluttered with the threat of Covid and falls.
Sublimated by an undecided duel.
“No one can compete with them.
The last three mountain stages will be the final fight in the general classification, so we can expect some movement.
It's going to be explosive”,
announces Romain Bardet (4th, 3'01” behind the leader).
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On leaving the Pyrenees, if the mano a mano drags on, the duelists will battle it out during the time trial between Lacapelle-Marival and Rocamadour (40.7 km), Saturday, the day before the parade on the Champs- Elysees.
The last time a time trial was decisive in the Tour de France was in 2020. Over the 36 km leading to the Planche des Belles Filles, Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), who started with 57” in advance, had seen the light go out to accompany the destiny of a young prodigy named Tadej Pogacar.
The Slovenian knows how to torment a rival.
The Tour is ready to live a play in five acts in which the twists are expected...
16th stage: Carcassonne-Foix (178.5 km).
Overall classification: 1. Vingegaard (Dan/Jumbo) 59 h 58' 28”; 2. Pogacar (Slo / UAE) at 2' 22''; 3. Thomas (GB/INE) 2' 43''; 4. Bardet (Fra/DSM) 3' 1''; 5. Yates (GB/INE) 4' 6''; 6. Quintana (Col/ARK) 4' 15''; 7. Meintjes (Afs/INT) 4' 24''; 8. Gaudu (Fra/GFJ) 4' 24''; 9. Pidcock (GB/INE) 8' 49''; 10. Mas (Sp/MOV) 9' 58''…