The 2022 Tour de France was 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 1 1 July 2022 – Copenhagen (Denmark),
The first stage of the Tour was an individual time trial of in Copenhagen. The course was pan-flat, with the only intermediate time check taking place after . The course was technical, with more than 20 corners, and it rained particularly for the first half of starters.
Jérémy Lecroq () was the first rider to leave, and the first to set a benchmark time was Bauke Mollema (), the Dutch time trial champion, with 15' 34". This was soon beaten by Mathieu van der Poel (), who went four seconds faster than Mollema. Three riders came close to beating his time as Mads Pedersen () and 's pair of general classification (GC) leaders, Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič, were two to three seconds slower than van der Poel. World champion Filippo Ganna () was a second slower at the time check but eventually finished with a time of 15' 27", knocking van der Poel off the hot seat. Less than a minute later, Wout van Aert () beat Ganna, finishing in 15' 22". Two-time defending champion Tadej Pogačar () lost two seconds to van Aert, and the only one to best his time was Yves Lampaert (), who was two seconds slower than van Aert at the time check but finished with a time of 15' 17". Lampaert took his first Tour stage and the first maillot jaune of the race, as well as the points jersey; Pogačar took the young riders jersey.
Among the contenders, Pogačar was the fastest, eight and nine seconds ahead of Vingegaard and Roglič, respectively. The rest finished between 16 seconds to almost a minute behind the Slovenian.
Stage 2 2 July 2022 – Roskilde to Nyborg (Denmark),
The first road stage of the Tour covered from Roskilde to Nyborg, with the stage expected to end in a bunch sprint. The first half of the stage had three fourth-category climbs, with points for first polka-dot jersey. Following the intermediate sprint in Kalundborg after of racing, the riders rode along the coast before reaching the Great Belt Bridge with left. The coast and the exposed bridge offered an opportunity for the peloton to split into echelons. After getting off the bridge, there were only around until the finish.
Immediately, Magnus Cort (), Sven Erik Bystrøm (), and the duo of Pierre Rolland and Cyril Barthe took off from the peloton. The quartet gained a maximum advantage of two minutes before the sprinters' teams began to control the peloton. Cort took the King of the Mountain (KoM) points at the top of the three fourth-category climbs to become the virtual wearer of the polka-dot jersey. Meanwhile, Rolland and Barthe were dropped on the first climb as Cort and Bystrøm, whose lead over the peloton increased to over three minutes, pushed on at the front. As the riders headed towards the intermediate sprint, the duo's lead rapidly decreased to less than a minute. Cort and Bystrøm took maximum points at the sprint, and Caleb Ewan () took the points for third in the peloton, just ahead of Wout van Aert (). With to go, Bystrøm left Cort behind. He hovered at the front of the race until there were left when he was caught by the peloton. For his efforts, Bystrøm was awarded the combativity award.
Just before the riders reached the Great Belt bridge, Rigoberto Urán () and Kevin Vermaerke () went down in a crash; both riders eventually made it back. On the bridge, a group of riders were involved in a crash, including the maillot jaune wearer, Yves Lampaert (). No one was seriously injured, and they were able to return to the peloton. The peloton remained together until the finale, but with just under remaining, another crash took down several riders. Most of the contenders were caught behind the crash but no one lost time due to the rule. The stage was decided by a reduced bunch sprint containing all the big sprinters. Mads Pedersen () was the first to launch his sprint. He was passed by van Aert but a late surge by Fabio Jakobsen () gave him his first Tour stage win. Van Aert took the maillot jaune by virtue of six bonus seconds and he also took the green points jersey. The only other change in the was Pedersen moving up to fifth after he finished third on the stage.
Stage 3 3 July 2022 – Vejle to Sønderborg (Denmark),
The third stage was the last stage in Denmark and featured a parcours that took the riders from Vejle to Sønderborg near the German border. The course was flat, and a bunch sprint was expected at the finish. There were three fourth-category climbs scattered along the route while the intermediate sprint was located in Christiansfeld with to go.
Like the previous day, there was no fight for the break as Magnus Cort (), the wearer of the polka-dot jersey, went up the road as the sole rider in the breakaway. The peloton allowed him to build a maximum advantage of just over six minutes before starting to chase. Cort once again took the points at all three climbs to extend his lead in the classification. At the intermediate sprint with left, after Cort took the maximum points, Wout van Aert (), the leader of the points classification, took the points for second ahead of Fabio Jakobsen (). Cort stayed out front until there were remaining when the peloton finally made the catch.
Over the final part of the stage, the peloton continued to set a steady pace as the sprinters' teams began to set up their lead-outs while the teams kept their leaders safe. With around to go, as the road narrowed, a crash took down several riders in the middle of the peloton. While no one was seriously injured, some contenders, notably Rigoberto Urán () and the pair of Damiano Caruso and Jack Haig, were not able to get back to the peloton and eventually lost 39 seconds on the day. In the final sprint, van Aert started his sprint first. He held the lead in the final metres until Dylan Groenewegen pipped him at the line, taking his first World Tour victory in over two years. A fast finishing Jasper Philipsen () took third while Peter Sagan () finished fourth after being blocked near the barriers. Despite finishing second for the third day in a row, van Aert kept the maillot jaune, extending his lead to seven seconds over Yves Lampaert () ahead of the first rest day as the race travelled back to France.
Transfer 4 July 2022
Tour transferred from Sønderborg (Denmark) to Dunkirk.
Stage 4 5 July 2022 – Dunkirk to Calais,
Following the first rest day, the fourth stage of the Tour featured an undulating parcours from Dunkirk to Calais. For the first , the terrain was mostly flat with one fourth-category climb on the way. Afterwards, the riders faced a rolling terrain that featured five fourth-category climbs. The last of these categorised climbs, the Côte du Cap Blanc-Nez, is long with an average of 7.5 per cent and was summitted with just under left. The climb featured an opportunity for the riders to drop the pure sprinters. Following the descent, the rest of the stage was entirely flat. The intermediate sprint was located in Lumbres after of racing.
From the stage's official start, Magnus Cort () went into the break for the third successive stage. This time, he was accompanied by Anthony Perez (). Both riders gained a maximum advantage of over six and a half minutes before began to chase. At one point, split the peloton into echelons but the group eventually came back together. Up front, Cort took the points on the first five climbs to further extend his lead in the classification, taking the record of most consecutive summits won, from former Tour champion and multi-time mountains classification winner Federico Bahamontes. As the riders passed through the intermediate sprint, the breakaway duo took the maximum points while Fabio Jakobsen () outsprinted Wout van Aert () for the third place points. As the break's lead gradually decreased, Perez dropped Cort with just under left. He continued to hold the lead, but his advantage was down to less than 20 seconds ahead of the final climb, the Côte du Cap Blanc-Nez.
On the climb, lit up the race by setting a ferocious tempo, quickly passing by Perez. The peloton split into pieces due to the pace. Halfway up the climb, the front group was down to just van Aert, his teammate Jonas Vingegaard, and Adam Yates (). Towards the top, van Aert pulled away solo in pursuit of the stage win. His advantage quickly grew to around half a minute over a reformed peloton. Several teams attempted to bring back the maillot jaune but van Aert soloed to the stage win. Jasper Philipsen () led the peloton across the line eight seconds later, with the Belgian mistakenly celebrating after having thought he won the stage. With his win, van Aert extended his lead in the to 25 seconds over Yves Lampaert (). There were no other changes in the top ten ahead of the Tour's cobbled stage.
Stage 5 6 July 2022 – Lille to Arenberg,
The fifth stage of the Tour featured a parcours that took the riders from Lille to Arenberg. For the first time since 2018, cobbles returned to the route of the race. The stage featured 11 cobbled sectors totalling and five new sectors that were not previously featured in the Tour or Paris–Roubaix. The first half of the stage had no cobbled sectors, with the intermediate sprint in Mérignies after the only point of interest. After of racing, the riders faced the first sector of cobbles. The other ten sectors of cobbles were scattered in the final of the stage. The toughest of these sectors, the four-star sectors of Erre to Wandignies and Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes to Sars-et-Rosières, were tackled with and remaining, respectively. The last cobbled sector was tackled with left before the run-in to the finish in Arenberg.
A few kilometres following the stage's official start, Magnus Cort (), Taco van der Hoorn (), and Edvald Boasson Hagen () managed to build a gap over the peloton. They were soon joined by Cort's teammate, Neilson Powless, Simon Clarke (), and Alexis Gougeard (), who counter-attacked from the peloton. The best-placed rider in the break was Powless, who was only 1' 13" behind Wout van Aert (). The break's lead was at over three minutes at its maximum as they headed towards the cobbles. Although their advantage continued to decrease towards the rest of the day, the sextet managed to maintain their lead all the way to the line. After Gougeard and Cort were dropped at separate times, the stage win was decided by the four remaining breakaway riders. Towards the final kilometre, Powless attacked and although he built a gap, he was chased down by Boasson Hagen. However, Clarke and van der Hoorn passed the Norwegian, with Clarke narrowly beating van der Hoorn in the sprint to win the stage.
Meanwhile, in the peloton, van Aert, with his teammate Steven Kruijswijk, was involved in a crash with to go. They got back to the peloton ahead of the first cobbled sector, sector 11. Mads Pedersen () and Jack Bauer () attacked after sector 11, but were brought back. After riding through sector 10, Ben O'Connor () suffered a puncture. He ended up losing four minutes by the end of the day. Over the next set of cobbled sectors, multiple riders crashed and suffered mechanicals, but no one was seriously injured. Just after sector 6, Jonas Vingegaard () had a mechanical. He had three bike changes and by the time he started chasing, he was over a minute behind the group of favourites.