Tour de France 2022

Tour de France 2022 Route

The world’s most prestigious bicycle event is about to take place this coming July. The 2022 Tour de France has given out the list of routes where participants are expected to race for 3328 km in 23 days. For any avid cyclists out there, this is exciting news. The 2022 Tour de France routes have been decided where the starting point will be in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Champs- Élysées stage or the Final Stage will be in Paris, France. The 21 different stages of the 2022 Tour de France are listed as follows.

• Stage 1: Copenhagen, Denmark (13 km)
• Stage 2: Roskilde, Denmark – Nyborg, Denmark (202.5 km)
• Stage 3: Vejle, Denmark – Sønberborg, Denmark (182 km)
• Stage 4: Dunkerque, France – Calais, France (171.5 km)
• Stage 5: Lille Métropole, France – Arenberg Porte du Hainaut, France (154 km)
• Stage 6: Binche, Belgium – Longwy, France (220 km)
• Stage 7: Tomblaine, France – La Super Planche des Belles Filles, France (176.5 km)
• Stage 8: Dôle, France – Lausanne, Switzerland (186.5 km)
• Stage 9: Aigle, Switzerland – Châtel les Portes du Soleil, Switzerland (193 km)
• Stage 10: Morzine les Portes du Soleil, Switzerland – Megève, France (148.5 km)
• Stage 11: Albertville, France – Col du Granon, France (152 km)
• Stage 12: Briançon, France – Alpe d’Huez, France (165.5 km)
• Stage 13: Bourg d’Oisans, France – Saint-Étienne, France (193 km)
• Stage 14: Saint-Étienne, France – Mende, France (192.5 km)
• Stage 15: Rodez, France – Carcassonne, France (202.5 km)
• Stage 16: Carcassonne, France – Foix, France (178.5 km)
• Stage 17: Saint-Gaudens, France – Peyragudes, France (130 km)
• Stage 18: Lourdes, France – Hautacam, France (143.5 km)
• Stage 19: Castelnau-Magnoac, France – Cahors, France (188.5 km)
• Stage 20: Lacapelle-Marival, France – Rocamadour, France (40.7 km)
• Stage 21: Paris la Défense Arena, France – Paris Champs-Élysées, France (116 km)

Stages in Tour de France

As the Tour de France progresses, stages with different terrain become more frequent. First, the starting point and the next two stages take place on a flat route. This route is known as a sprinter’s route because the race mostly consists of straight lines and long stretches of road that are suitable for sprinters. Furthermore, it also offers very little opportunity to use tactics to attack your opponents or gain an advantage.

Afterwards, racers transition into a hill route. The route will consist of winding roads and hills, which are easier to scale on a bike than they are to walk up on foot. During this part of the race, it’s not unusual for fast riders who struggle on hills to lose positions to riders who are more well-suited for the terrain. Lastly, the second-to-last stage of the Tour de France is a mountain route with difficult climbs in mountainous regions where many of the racers live. This is generally where big gaps between leaders and losers begin to form. For more details regarding the types of route, each stage has, visit here.

Teams Joining

For this year, the teams that will be joining Tour de France are the following:

• AG2R Citroen Team
• Astana Qazaqstan Team
• Bahrain Victorious
• Bora-Hansgrohe
• Cofidis
• EF Education-EasyPost
• Groupama-FDJ
• Ineos Grenadiers
• Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
• Israel-Premier Tech
• Jumbo-Visma
• Lotto Soudal
• Movistar Team
• QuickStep-AlphaVinyl
• Team BikeExchange-Jayco
• Team DSM
• Trek-Segafredo
• UAE Team Emirates
• Alpecin-Fenix
• Team Arkea-Samsic
• B&B Hotels-KTM
• TotalEnergies

For updates on the 2022 Tour de France Standings, visit here.

Tour de France 2022 Dates

This year’s most prestigious and most difficult cycling event is finally happening again. Due to circumstances, the event’s original date was postponed last year and the previous year. Finally, the Tour de France will happen this July this year. The first day will start on July 1, 2022, on a Friday. As mentioned, it will begin in the lovely Copenhagen, Denmark.

For the first day, the Tour de France 2022 Copenhagen route will have an individual time trial where riders are going to race alone against the clock. In any case, riders need rest days so the first rest day they will have will be on July 4. Afterwards, the race will continue from July 5 to July 10 where it will start in Dunkirk, Paris.

After finishing in Châtel, Switzerland, participants will get their second rest day on July 11. As for the last rest day before finishing the race, it will be on July 18. Therefore, within the 23-day cycling event, there will be 3 rest days happening each Monday.

Brief History

Having known as the world’s greatest bicycle race, the Tour de France first took place in 1903. Henri Desgrange and George Lefèvre initiated this event. Interestingly, the former was an editor of a sports daily newspaper and the latter was a rugby and cycling reporter. Desgrange and Lafèvre created this event to advertise and improve the circulation of the newspaper soon after. Initially, Tour de France started as a 6-staged cycling event covering 2428 km. Currently, it has now become known as the world’s most prestigious and most difficult bicycle event.

The first Tour de France declared Maurice Garin the winner of this event. He won the first stage, maintained his lead throughout, and won the final two stages of the race. The first Tour de France was a success, and this made it possible to push through the event in 1904. Fortunately, rather than cancelling the event, the organizers were able to provide a set of new and concrete rules and staged another race in 1905.

Another infamous happening on the Tour de France was when a French woman caused a pile-up. The woman was said to have caused a huge crash by stepping onto the path carrying a sign when German rider Tony Martin bumped into her and fell. Due to the chain reaction, dozens of riders followed behind. Certainly, this was claimed to be one of the worst crashes that have ever happened on the Tour de France.

With this big event happening each year, it’s no surprise that there are plenty of famous and infamous instances. In the case of the 1987 Tour de France, the close battle between Irish cyclist Stephen Roche and Spaniard Pedro Delgado will go down in history as one of the best Tour de France races.

Purpose of Tour de France

Initially, Desgrange and Lefèvre created Tour de France to increase sales of their newspaper, L’Auto. At that time, they wanted to create a race which would gather all the important cyclists together, so that they could advertise their newspaper through the cyclists at the events, which would also be broadcasted on radio.

But as time passes, Tour de France has turned out to be more than just an advertising tool for newspapers. At this time, the tournament now promotes the bicycle as an important means of mobility in France. In fact, this can be seen through an increasing number of people participating in the event each year. It has become much more than just a simple sporting event since its creation. Now, it is known as one of the most prominent sports events in the world to inspire all those who can make cycling a part of their everyday lives.