Preview - Tour de France 2022 stage 6

Stage six of the Tour de France will be the first hilly day of the race. The start will be in Binche, as the peloton will travel to Belgium overnight. This will be the longest stage of the race with 220 kilometers in total. This is a day for the Ardennes classics specialists to thrive. The start is relatively flat and will see the riders return to France, for a finale in Longwy.

This day won't be crucial for the GC, however it will see the GC contenders having to go all-out in the final kilometers. It will be a fight for the stage win already between them and the puncheurs though, with interesting dynamics set to be played.

Beforehand there will be some hilltops. 15Km to go (1.6Km; 4.1%), 9.5Km to go 2.3Km; 4.3%) will warm up the riders. This will be a traditional classics day, where the riders who want to fight for the stage win will have to save their one bullet to the perfect timing to have a chance at winning the stage.

As the riders enter the town they reach the summit of the Côte de Pulventeux, 800 meters long at 12.3% average gradient. It’s a brutal ramp which may see attacks, and summits with a mere 5.5Km to go. The final ascent will be 1.6 kilometers long at 5.8%, after a short but technical descent, it will feature ramps up to 11% and be a perfect opportunity for the puncheurs.

**** Wout van Aert

*** Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogacar

** Adam Yates, Jonas Vingegaard, Primoz Roglic

* Dylan Teuns, Aleksandr Vlasov, Michael Matthews, Tom Pidcock