Preview - Tour de France 2022 stage 15

The Tour de France is heading south into the Pyrenees, but before the sprinters will once again have the opportunity to take a stage win, or will they? Stage 15 will be a transition day, with some hills en route to Carcassonne which will host a flat finale, but in no way one that’s certain to end in a sprint. The start in Rodez sees some slight uphill ramps, and very rolling terrain in which a breakaway can go up the road.

It will be a very hot day and although the GC isn't to be played, it will be a very fatiguing day for many who will be looking to save their race and keep as much power as possible into the third week.

Throughout the day, that is repeated time and time again as there is a distinct lack of pan-flat roads. The stage has in fact over 2400 meters of climbing, and over 200 kilometers in distance which will make for a hard day under any circumstance. There are several small climbs throughout the day, the main one summits with 48 kilometers to go - around 10 kilometers at 4%. Not a hard climb, but one the riders can do in the big ring and with a strong group in front it can be very hard to cut the gap without dropping sprinters in the peloton. What follows are 35 kilometers of mostly downhill terrain, where again it can be very hard to cut down a gap. This means the peloton has to ride hard all day long in order to achieve a bunch sprint.

The final 12.5 kilometers flatten out, however there surely won’t be too much firepower to chase down a move in this distance if this is the scenario. The final kilometers inside the city will be relatively technical, with a few corners inside the final kilometer making it sketchy. The finish will also see a slight bend to the left, which the sprinters will have to take into consideration unless they find themselves in pole position for the sprint.

**** Wout van Aert

*** Mads Pedersen, Jasper Philipsen

** Dylan Groenewegen, Florian Sénéchal, Peter Sagan

* Michael Matthews, Alberto Dainese, Alexander Kristoff, Christophe Laporte