The 2022 Tour de France is the 109th edition of the Tour de France. It started in Copenhagen, Denmark on 1 July and ended with the final stage at Champs-Élysées, Paris on 24 July.
Classification standings
Legend Denotes the leader of the general classification Denotes the leader of the mountains classification Denotes the leader of the points classification Denotes the leader of the young rider classification Denotes the leader of the team classification Denotes the winner of the combativity award
Stage 12 14 July 2022 – Briançon to Alpe d'Huez,
The twelfth stage featured the race's queen stage as the riders travelled from Briançon to Alpe d'Huez. The riders gradually climbed from the get-go, passing through the intermediate sprint in Le Monêtier-les-Bains after . Immediately afterwards, the riders made their way back up the Col du Galibier but this time, the riders went up the hors categorie Col du Lautaret side, which is long with an average of 5.1 percent. After descending the Galibier and the Télégraphe, the riders made their way towards the hors categorie Col de la Croix de Fer, a climb with an average of 5.2 percent. Despite the average gradient, the climb had two short descents while the last averaged 8.3 percent. At the top, there were left on the stage. Following a step descent and a flat section, the riders reached the foot of the hors categorie Alpe d'Huez for another summit finish. The climb is long with an average of 8.1 percent. The first of the climb averaged almost 9 percent before easing to around 5 percent near the summit. All in all, the stage had a total of of vertical climbing.
As soon as the stage started, Neilson Powless () attacked out of the peloton. He was soon joined by five other riders as the peloton allowed the break to gain two minutes. On the climb of Col du Galibier, attacks flew out of the peloton as several riders tried to bridge to the break. Four riders, Giulio Ciccone (), Louis Meintjes (), Tom Pidcock (), and Chris Froome (), eventually managed to break away from the peloton as began to set a steady tempo in the peloton. Meanwhile, up front, Anthony Perez () left his breakaway companions to take the maximum points at the top of the Galibier. On the descent, Powless, Ciccone, and Meintjes bridged up to Perez to form the lead group. Sebastian Schönberger (), Kobe Goossens (), Nelson Oliveira (), Pidcock, and Froome soon made their way to the front group to establish the break of nine riders. The group extended their lead to seven and a half minutes over the peloton before lifted the pace on Col de la Croix de Fer. On the way to the top of the climb, Oliveira, Goossens, Schönberger, and Perez were dropped from the break, with the lead quintet crossing the top of Croix de Fer at almost four and a half minutes before the peloton did so.
On the descent, the peloton eased the pace, allowing the break to extend their advantage to six and a half minutes before they reached the climb of Alpe d'Huez. With around left, Pidcock attacked from the break. Initially, Meintjes, as well as Froome a few seconds behind him, set a steady tempo to keep Pidcock at less than ten seconds ahead but Pidcock gradually extended his lead all the way to the top. He soloed to the top to take his first World Tour win and he also became the youngest rider to win on Alpe d'Huez. Meintjes took second, 48 seconds down, while Froome finished third at over two minutes behind. Meanwhile, in the peloton, increased the pace on the climb. The contenders began to drop from the group until only the maillot jaune, Jonas Vingegaard (), his teammate, Sepp Kuss, Tadej Pogačar (), Geraint Thomas (), and Enric Mas () remained. Towards the top, Pogačar attacked twice and only Vingegaard was able to follow him both times. Pogačar and Vingegaard eventually slowed near the finish, allowing Thomas, Kuss, and Mas to come back to them. At the finish, Pogačar sprinted for time gaps but there were no gaps between him, Vingegaard, and Thomas.
In the , Vingegaard kept the maillot jaune, 2' 22" ahead of Pogačar, who moved up to second, while Thomas rose to third, a further four seconds behind. Romain Bardet () dropped to fourth after losing 19 seconds. Adam Yates (), Nairo Quintana (), and David Gaudu () occupy fifth to seventh after having lost between 38 seconds to 1' 21". Pidcock returned to the top ten with his stage win and time gains on the stage.
Stage 13 15 July 2022 – Le Bourg-d'Oisans to Saint-Étienne,
The thirteenth stage featured a transition stage that took the riders from Le Bourg-d'Oisans to Saint-Étienne. From the start, the riders gradually descended towards the third-category Côte de Brié. Following the descent and a long flat section, the riders tackled the second-category Col de Parménie. Another descent and a short flat section led to the intermediate sprint in La Côte-Saint-André with left. Following a gradual descent, the riders climbed up the final categorised climb of the day, the third-category Côte de Saint-Romain-en-Gal, which was crested with to go. Near the finish, there was an uncategorised climb that peaked with remaining. After cresting the top, the riders rode on a plateau section that led to the finish in Saint-Étienne.
There was a furious fight for the break as several riders attempted to go in the move. It took until the climb of Côte de Brié before a trio of riders, Filippo Ganna (), Stefan Küng (), and Matteo Jorgenson (), built a gap over the peloton. Behind them, a group of 19 riders tried to bridge up to the trio but they were brought back by the -led peloton. Eventually, Hugo Houle (), Fred Wright (), and the duo of Mads Pedersen and Quinn Simmons escaped from the peloton and bridged up to the trio up front. The break of seven built a lead of around two and a half minutes as the sprinters' teams kept them in check. At the intermediate sprint, after the break took maximum points, Wout van Aert () led the peloton across to increase his lead in the points classification. With around left, there was a crash that involved Caleb Ewan (), hurting his knee in the process, but he continued the race. Ahead of the Côte de Saint-Romain-en-Gal, the gap started to come down to the break.
On the climb, several sprinters began to drop, forcing the sprinters' teams to get off the front of the peloton. As the pace eased, the break's lead increased towards three and a half minutes. With remaining, Simmons dropped out of the break after finishing his work for Pedersen. Eventually, took up the chase in the peloton. They quickly decreased the break's advantage to two and a half minutes before the gap stabilised. The lead remained at less than two and a half minutes before called off the chase. Up front, the break continued to work well together until Pedersen launched an attack with to go. Only Wright and Houle were able to follow him, with the gap over Ganna, Küng, and Jorgenson gradually increasing towards the finish. Wright and Houle attempted to attack Pedersen in the final kilometres, but the Dane was able to respond each time. The lead trio came to the finish together, with Pedersen launching his sprint with to go. Wright and Houle never came close as Pedersen won his first Grand Tour stage. The chasing trio finished half a minute down while van Aert led the peloton across almost six minutes down. There were no changes in the top ten as Jonas Vingegaard () kept the maillot jaune.
Stage 14 16 July 2022 – Saint-Étienne to Mende,
The fourteenth stage featured another hilly stage that took the riders from Saint-Étienne to Mende. The first had an undulating terrain, with the riders tackling the third-category climbs of Côte de Saint-Just-Malmont and Côte de Châtaignier in the first as well as the intermediate sprint in Yssingeaux after of racing. Following a short flat section, the riders went up an uncategorised climb before tackling the third-category Côte de Grandrieu. Afterwards, the riders rode on a plateau section before going up the third-category Côte de la Fage, which was crested with left. Following a long descent, the riders tackled the final categorised climb, the second-category Côte de la Croix Neuve Montée Jalabert, which is long with an average of 10.2 percent. After cresting the top, there were left until the finish at the Mende Airfield.
With the high likelihood of a breakaway challenging for the stage win, several riders attempted to make it into the break. With around still to go, on the Côte de Saint-Just-Malmont, Tadej Pogačar () attacked twice but the maillot jaune, Jonas Vingegaard (), was able to respond both times. The breakaway fight continued on until the riders reached the Côte de Châtaignier with around left when a group of 23 riders broke away from the peloton. proceeded to block the road and allowed the break to extend their advantage to more than 14 minutes, ensuring that the break will fight for the stage win. The break continued to work well together until Michael Matthews () attacked with remaining. He built a gap over his breakaway companions, who began to attack each other as several riders tried to bridge up to Matthews. Eventually, Andreas Kron (), Luis León Sánchez (), and Felix Großschartner () caught up to Matthews with left. They gradually increased their lead over the chasing group, which began to split on the Côte de la Fage. The chasers struggled to work together as the lead group stabilised their gap at around half a minute.
On the descent of Côte de la Fage, Kron suffered a puncture, dropping himself from the lead group to the chase group. With the lack of cooperation in the chase group, the lead trio extended their lead to around 40 seconds ahead of the final climb of Côte de la Croix Neuve Montée Jalabert. On the climb, Matthews dropped Sánchez and Großschartner in pursuit of the stage win. In the chase group, Alberto Bettiol () attacked, passing Sánchez and Großschartner before eventually catching up to Matthews. He managed to gap Matthews but the Australian gauged his effort before bridging up to Bettiol. Matthews attacked near the top, with no response from Bettiol. Matthews gradually increased his lead towards the finish to win the stage. Bettiol finished 15 seconds down while Thibaut Pinot (), who made a late attack on the climb, crossed the line 34 seconds down.
Meanwhile, in the peloton, increased the pace on Côte de la Fage to reduce the group. As they began the climb of Croix Neuve, came to the front to set up Pogačar. Towards the top, Pogačar launched his attack, with Vingegaard immediately on his wheel. Pogačar kept his pace as they increased their lead over the other contenders. Both riders came to the finish together, 17 seconds ahead of David Gaudu (), Nairo Quintana (), and Geraint Thomas (). The other contenders lost somewhere between 22 seconds and 1' 10". In the , Vingegaard kept a 2' 22" advantage over Pogačar, with both riders increasing their lead over the rest of the contenders. Louis Meintjes () entered the top ten after gaining 11 minutes from the breakaway.
Stage 15 17 July 2022 – Rodez to Carcassonne,
The fifteenth stage featured a flat stage, with the riders travelling from Rodez to Carcassonne. Despite the stage being categorised as a flat stage, the terrain on the stage is undulating with several lumps scattered throughout the day. After of rolling terrain, the riders tackled the third-category Côte d'Ambialet. After a long section of undulating terrain, the riders reached the intermediate sprint in Saint-Ferréol with left. Immediately afterwards, the riders went up the third-category Côte des Cammazes, which was crested with remaining. Following the climb, the riders faced another section of rolling terrain before tackling a flat section towards the finish in Carcassonne.