Preview - Tour de France 2022 stage 16

Stage 16 sees the Tour de France enter the Pyrenees. It will be the final mountain range tackled in this year’s edition, and will see three consecutive days where the overall classification can be changed. The first of which will see the riders go from Carcassonne to Foix.

The start of the stage will have a couple of hilltops where a strong breakaway can go up the road, and most of the day is then somewhat flat until the final combination of climbs.

This will be a day where the general classification will be on the line, however the breakaway also has very good chances of succeeding.

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With 53.5 kilometers to go the riders will go over the summit of the Port de Lers, the first ascent. It is 11.5 kilometers at 6.7% average gradient, a constant climb which will prepare the riders into the final challenge.

A somewhat technical descent will have the riders at the base of the Mur de Péguère. Introduced in 2012, it has since became one of the favourite climbs for the Tour de France organizers, who once again take the finale into Foix. Before that though, the riders will climb 9.4 kilometers at 7.4%, an ascent split into two halves though, as the second half sees 3.6Km at 11.4%. Hard gradients which will be the focus of the climbers on the day, with it’s summit coming with 27 kilometers to go. What will follow is a fast descent, turned into a false-flat that will be ridden all the way into the finale.

CyclingUpToDate prediction:

**** Lennard Kämna

*** Thibaut Pinot, Patrick Konrad

** Alberto Bettiol, Jakob Fuglsang, Dylan Teuns

* Bob Jungels, Michael Woods, Bauke Mollema, Simon Geschke