routes, favourites, French people to follow… What you need to know about the 109th edition of the Grande Boucle

The big annual party in July is back. The 109th edition of Tour de France will start from Copenhagen, Denmark, on Friday July 1st. Double title holder, the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) is a huge favorite, but will have to be wary of his compatriot Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma).

>> Tour de France 2022: the main keys to understanding and following the stages of the Grande Boucle

Among the French, Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) and Romain Bardet (Team DSM) are returning to the Grande Boucle after their absences last year. Here’s everything you need to know about the Tour de France 2022.

Denmark finally have their big start

The Tour de France will start from Copenhagen a year late. The departure there was initially planned for 2021, but Denmark had to request a postponement, for security problems. At the same time, last summer, the Parken stadium in Copenhagen indeed hosted four matches of the men’s football Euro, itself postponed by a year because of the Covid-19.

Denmark is the tenth country to host the start of the Tour de France. Never has the Grande Boucle gone so far north. On the program, three stages: a 13 kilometer time trial and two straight stages where the wind should play a major role.

The country of Queen Margaret II will be the fourth most represented nation with ten riders at the start (tied with the Netherlands and Spain, behind France, Belgium and Italy) including Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo- Visma), Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), Kasper Asgreen (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) or Jakob Fuglsang (Israel-Premier Tech).

The favorites: who can shake up Tadej Pogacar?

We are not taking many risks by ensuring that the favorite of this Tour de France 2022 is called Tadej Pogacar. Since his surprise victory in 2020, recorded during the penultimate stage, the Slovenian has had no equal on the Grande Boucle. Last year, he won more than five minutes ahead of his runner-up, Dane Jonas Vingegaard.

Already winner this season of the UAE Tour, Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico and the Tour of Slovenia, he appears to be the scarecrow of this 109th edition. With a third success, he would equal the French Louison Bobet, the American Greg LeMond and the Belgian Philippe Thys on the list of winners of the event.

As usual, his first rival is his compatriot from the Jumbo-Visma team, Primoz Roglic. Second in 2020, the triple winner of the Vuelta retired last year after the eighth stage due to the after-effects of a heavy fall suffered during the first week. Winner this year of Paris-Nice and the Critérium du Dauphiné, he can count on a particularly dense Dutch team (Sepp Kuss, Jonas Vingegaard, Steven Kruijswijk, Wout van Aert, Christophe Laporte).

Behind, the race for the podium will be open. In addition to Vingegaard, above all Roglic’s lieutenant, we will have to reckon with Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-hansgrohe). The Russian won the Tour de Romandie before leaving the Tour de Suisse because of Covid-19, while wearing the yellow jersey. The Ineos Grenadiers team presents several strings to its bow: the winner of the Tour of the Basque Country, Daniel Martinez, Adam Yates and above all the winner of the 2018 Tour and more recently of the Tour de Suisse, Geraint Thomas. Unless the Tricolores invite themselves to the party.

The French to follow

Alaphilippe absent, they will be 32 French at the start. For the general classification, the best card is called David Gaudu. The Groupama-FDJ climber will certainly be the leader of his team, while Thibaut Pinot should rather aim for stage victories. Gaudu missed his last race, the Criterium du Dauphiné, where he experienced a “day without”, during the last stage, finally finishing 17th overall.

Two years after their last appearance, Thibaut Pinot and Romain Bardet (DSM-Team) find at the same time the roads of the Tour de France. The first has bad memories of the Big Loop. He retired in 2019 two days from the finish in Paris when he was in the fight for the final victory. In 2020, he crashed from the start in Nice and dragged his sentence for three weeks, with a 29th place overall. His back injury then weakened him for more than a year.

The presence of Romain Bardet on the roads of the Tour was decided at the beginning of June after his difficult abandonment on the Tour of Italy. Affected by a virus, the Auvergnat clearly had the legs to compete for the podium, even the pink jersey. Guillaume Martin also intends to bounce back after his disappointing 14th place overall in the Giro while Florian Senechal will wear his blue-white-red jersey.

The stages where the Tour can get lost

The start of the Tour de France will be even more nervous than usual since the first week offers two dangerous stages for the contenders for final victory. From Saturday 2 July, the peloton will have to be wary of the risks of edges when crossing the Great Belt for 18 kilometers to reach Nyborg, the finish city. On the bridge located more than 250 meters high, the director of the Tour, Christian Prudhomme, evokes “a high probability of fighting in the middle of the gusts”.

Four days later, and after a trip to reach the mainland from Denmark, the riders will have to be on their guard again. The fifth stage between Lille and Arenberg Porte du Hainaut, Wednesday July 6, will offer 11 new cobbled sections, i.e. 19.4 tortuous km that the organizations will have to take, while avoiding bad falls.

The stages where the Tour can be won

After a first arrival at the top, at the Super Planche des Belles Filles, during the seventh stage, and two mountain stages during the ninth and tenth stages, the peloton will face a terrible sequence.

For the eleventh stage, on Wednesday July 13, the favorites will struggle between Albertville and the Col du Granon (hors category, 11.3 km at 9.2%) via the Col du Télégraphe (1st category, 11.9 km at 7.1%) and Galibier (out of category, 17.7 km at 6.9%). Rebelote the next day between Briançon and Alpe-d’Huez, a carbon copy of the 18th stage of the 1986 Tour. On the program: another side of the Col du Galibier (outside category, 23 km at 5.1%), the Col de the Iron Cross (29 km at 5.2%) then Alpe-d’Huez (out of category, 13.8 km at 8.1%).

In the Pyrenees, the queen stage, the 18th, will be held between Lourdes and Hautacam on Thursday 21 July. Fairly short (143 km), this will be the last mountain stage of the route. But the route has two major difficulties: the Col d’Aubisque (out of category, 16.4 km at 7.1%) and Hautacam (out of category, 13.6 km at 7.8%) via the Col de Spandelles (1st category, 10.3 km at 8.3%). Before arriving in Paris, it will be necessary to manage a time trial between Lacapelle-Marival and Rocamadour (40.7 km), during the penultimate stage.