Preview - Tour de France 2022 stage 10

After the rest day comes a day in the Tour de France which is very mixed. On paper, one for the climbers, however on closer inspection many riders can succeed on such a stage. It’s a short day as most mountainous days on this year’s edition are. It starts off downhill, and has an initial ascent that summits on kilometer 28 which should see the breakaway go up the road and the race settle down.

It's a day that's unlikely to see much action in the GC, but the stage will be up for grabs between the climbers and puncheurs. After the rest day many won't know how they will be feeling, and with two decisive days laying ahead it's unlikely to see the climbers having a go in the final climbs as they will look to save their legs for future days.

All climbs on this day are big-ring ascents, and so despite the initial high-mountain appearance, the rouleurs and puncheurs also stand a chance. The day sees a combination of rolling hills until the riders reach the base of the final ascent.

That will be into the Megève Altiport. A long climb, with over 21 kilometers in distance but just over 4% in average gradient. The opening seven kilometers reach above that, but then long sections of pan-flat roads and some areas where the riders can rest and even slack on a few pedal rotations will see them recover. Hence, this isn’t a constant uphill effort, but more a combination of two ascents. The final one is over 7 kilomers long, it does feature flat-ish sections but it also has some rougher ramps and with the distance attacks may be more effective.

**** Lennard Kämna

*** Michael Woods, Dylan Teuns

** Jakob Fuglsang, Bauke Mollema, Alexey Lutsenko

* Patrick Konrad, Max Schachmann, Wout van Aert, Tadej Pogacar