Preview - Tour de France 2022 stage 19

The traditional 19th stage being a transition day. More of a logistics day for the Tour organizers who seek to get closer to Paris due to the limit on stage transfers. Nevertheless a day of racing, one for the sprinters, and a final opportunity for the rouleurs to achieve a win which will make for some interesting dynamics.

It can be a very interesting day taking into account how the race has been so far, with little teams capable of controlling the peloton on the opportunities for the sprinters.

Castelnau-Magnonac will host the start of a day that is mostly flat, with 188 kilometers to tackle and not many obstacles ahead. A duo of fourth category ascents with 53 and 36 kilometers to go may be the biggest threats to those who can’t climb very well, but it’s unlikely to do any damage.

The stage is likely to be all about the sprint in Cahors. At this point of the race there shouldn’t be as much tension in the peloton, however there is expected to be a battle for positioning in the streets of the town, which will see a relatively technical finish with some tight bends in it’s final kilometers. As for the final straight it will point upwards, it won’t be a flat sprint, which can affect the outcome of the stage as not all riders will be happy to see gradients of around 4% in the final few hundred meters.

**** Jasper Philipsen

*** Wout van Aert, Mads Pedersen

** Fabio Jakobsen, Dylan Groenewegen, Caleb Ewan

* Peter Sagan, Danny van Poppel, Alberto Dainese, Alexander Kristoff