The Route d’Occitanie wants to surprise us again this year. After a grandiose final perched high in the Aude in 2021, very close to the Cathar castle of Peyrepertuse, the Occitan event will again offer new sites for the 2022 edition, which will take place from June 16 to 19.
The route will be officially presented on Thursday May 19, but France Bleu Occitanie, partner of the event, reveals the main lines to you.
From the Hautes-Pyrénées to the Haute-Garonne, via the Tarn and the Aude
The big start of the Route d’Occitanie 2022 will thus be given from the foot of the Pyrenees, on Thursday 16 June. Runners will start from Semeacin the suburbs of Tarbes (Hautes-Pyrénées), for a first stage towards the Gers. The finish of the day will be judged in a town located between Auch and Toulouse.
For the second stage, it will be the Tarn, the historic cradle of the race. Departure to Graulhetto end in the south of Aveyron, at Roquefort.
A first in the Pyrénées-Orientales
For the rest, we will have to go much further south: in the Aude, by the sea, for an unprecedented final of the third stage in the Pyrénées-Orientales, in Angles ski resort.
It is moreover the first time that the Route d’Occitanie stops in Catalan country. The organizers had been working on this for several years, and finally succeeded. That day, June 18, will be the call of the mountain, with a stage that promises to be tough.
Les Angles will also be the start of the last stage (the fourth), on Sunday 19 June. With a crossing of the Ariège, and final in Haute-Garonne, in a town south of Toulouse.
A return of Egan Bernal?
As for the participants, everything is open: we are waiting for the regionals, perhaps the Tarnais Lilian Calmejane and the Commingeois Pavel Sivakov. Both will have left the Tour of Italy, and could resume on the Route d’Occitanie. Sivakov has already made it known that he is ready to participate. Simon Carr, the Briton from Limoux, could follow him. He too is currently on the Giro d’Italia, and the calendar is compatible.
And then, perhaps the chef’s surprise: Egan Bernal could make a comeback to competition, if the health is there. The Colombian, winner of the Tour de France 2019, has already won the Occitan event in 2020. And the Ineos-Grenadiers team is a faithful of the Route d’Occitanie. She notably paid tribute there in 2020 and 2021 to Nicolas Portal, the deceased Gers sports director.
But above all, Egan Bernal is coming back from injury, seriously injured in training in January, with a fractured femur. He could choose the Route d’Occitanie to finally launch his season in Europe. But time is running out: he has only been dancing for a few days, standing on the pedals.