Guide to the Tour de France 2022

The Tour de France is the world’s greatest cycling race. It takes place from Friday July 1 to Sunday July 24 2022. The Tour de France is gruelling, exciting and dramatic. Discover the main stages, riders, facts, distances and some fun facts in this guide to the Tour de France 2022 – the 109th race.

The Tour de France attracts over 12 million spectators a year plus 3.5 million TV viewers on a typical day’s coverage in 190 countries. I love watching it, as much for its high drama as for the glorious views of the French countryside both from the road and from helicopters and drones high above the race.

Founded in 1903 by Henri Desgrange, the editor of L’Auto newspaper, it’s the third biggest sporting event in the world after the Olympic Games and the FiFa World Cup.

The 2022 Tour de France

The 2022 Tour de France start (named, naturally, the Grand Départ) starts on Friday July 1^th in Denmark.

The Tour de France 2022 Stages

The 2022 Tour de France is made up of 21 stages. It covers a total distance of 3,349 kms/2,081.47 miles. The 2021 race distance was 3,383 kms/2102 miles.

6 flat stages
7 hill stages
6 mountain stages with five summit finishes. Mountain ranges
2 individual time-trial stages
2 rest days

The longest stage is on July 7 from the Belgian city of Binche and Longwy in north-eastern France. It’s just under 220 kms/140 miles. It’s expected to take riders five hours to complete.

9 new stage town or sites that will be hosting the Tour for the first time in 2022:

• Copenhagen (start and finish of stage 1)
• Roskilde (start of stage 2)
• Nyborg (finish of stage 2)
• Vejle (start of stage 3)
• Sønderborg (finish of stage 3)
• Aigle (start of stage 9)
• Castelnau-Magnoac (start of stage 19)
• Lacapelle-Marival (start of stage 20)
• Rocamadour (finish of stage 20)

The Tour de France 2022 Route

The Teams for the Tour de France 2021

There are eight riders in each of the 22 teams. In total (and in theory as there are sometimes very last-minute drop-outs due to injury or illness), 176 riders will take part.

These are the now officially confirmed teams in alphabetical order. Their nationality is in parentheses after every name.

Official Teams and Riders

AG2R Citroën (France): Ben O’Connor (AUS); Geoffrey Bouchard (FRA); Benoît Cosnefroy (FRA); Oliver Naesen (BEL); Aurélien Paret-Peintre (FRA); Mikaël Cherel (FRA); Stan Dewulf (BEL); Bob Jungels (LUX)

Alpecin- Deceuninck (Belgium): Mathieu van der Poel (NET) Silvan Dillier (SUI); Jasper Philipsen (BEL); Kristian Sbragli (ITA); Michael Gogl (AUT), Alexander Krieger (GER); Edward Planckaert (BEL); Guillaume van Keirsbulck (BEL)

Arkéa-Samsic (France): Nairo Quintana (COL); Warren Barguil (FRA); Maxime Bouet (FRA) Amaury Capiot (BEL); Hugo Hofstetter (FRA); Matîs Louvel (FRA); Lukasz Owsian (POL); Connor Swift (GBR)

Astana Qazaqstan (Kazakstan): Joe Dombrowski (USA); Fabio Felline (ITA); Dimitriy Gruzdev (KAZ); Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ); Gianni Moscon (ITA); Aleksandr Riabushenko (BELARUS); Simone Velasco (ITA); Andrey Zeits (KAZ)

B&B Hotels – KTM (France): Cyril Barthe (FRA); Franck Bonnamour (FRA): Alexis Gougeard (FRA); Jérémy Lecroq (FRA); Cyril Lemoine (FRA); Luca Mozzato (ITA); Pierre Rolland (FRA); Sebastian Schönberger (AUT)

Bahrain Victorious (Bahrain): Damiano Caruso ITA); Kamil Gradek (POL); Jack Haig (AUS); Matej Mohoric (SLO); Luis León Sánchez (SPA); Dylan Teuns (BEL), Jan Tratnik (SLO), Fred Wright (GB)

BikeExchange – Jayco (Australia): Jack Bauer (NYZ); Luke Durbridge (AUS): Dylan Groenewegen (NED); Amund Grøndahl Jansen (NOR); Christopher Juul Jensen (DEN);Michael Matthews (AUS); Luka Mezgec (SLO); Nick Schultz (AUS)

Bora–Hansgrohe (Germany): Marco Haller (AUT); Lennard Kämna (GER); Patrick Konrad (AUT); Felix Großschartner (AUT); Nils Politt (GER); Max Schachmann (GER); Danny van Poppel (NED); Aleksandr Vlasov (RUS)

Cofidis Solutions Crédits (France): Pierre-Luc Périchon (FRA); Simon Geschke (GER); Ion Izaguirre Insausti (SPA); Victor Lafay (FRA); Guillaume Martin (FRA); Anthony Perez (FRA); Benjamin Thomas (FRA); Max Walscheid (GER)

DSM (Netherlands):  Romain Bardet (FRA); Alberto Dainese (ITA); John Degenkolb (GER); Nils Eekhoff (NED); Chris Hamilton (AUS); Andreas Leknessund (NOR); Martijn Tusveld (NED); Kevin Vermaerke (USA)

EF Education – Easypost (USA): Alberto Bettiol (ITA); Stephen Bissegger (SUI); Magnus Cort Nielsen (DEN); Owain Doull (GBR); Ruben Antonio Almeida Guerriero (POR); Neilson Powless (USA); Jonas Rutsch (GER); Rigoberto Urán (COL) 

Groupama–FDJ (France): Antoine Duchesne (CAN); David Gaudu (FRA); Kevin Geniets (LUX); Stefan Küng (SUI); Olivier Le Gac (FRA); Valentin Madouas (FRA); Thibaut Pinot (FRA); Michael Storer (AUS)

Ineos Grenadiers (Great Britain): Jonathan Castroviejo (SPA); Filippo Ganna (ITA); Daniel Martínez (COL); Tom Pidcock (GBR), Luke Rowe (GBR); Geraint Thomas (GBR); Dylan van Baarle (NED); Adam Yates (GBR)

Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux (Belgium): Sven-Erik Bystrøm (DEN); Kobe Goossens (BEL); Alexander Kristoff (NOR); Louis Meintjes (RSA); Andrea Pasqualon (ITA); Adrien Petit (FRA); Taco van der Hoorn (NED); Georg Zimmerman (GER)

Israel-PremierTech (Israel):  Guillaume Boivin (CAN); Simon Clarke (AUS); Chris Froome (GB); Jakob Fuglsang (DEN); Hugo Houle (CAN); Guy Niv (ISR); Krists Neilands (LAT); Michael Woods (CAN)

Jumbo-Visma (Netherlands): Tiesj Benoot (BEL); Steven Kruijswijk (NED); Sepp Kuss (USA); Christophe Laporte (FRA); Primož Roglič (SLO); Jonas Vingegaard (DEN); Wout van Aert (BEL); Nathan van Hooydonck (BEL)

Lotto-Soudal (Belgium): Caleb Ewan (AUS); Frederik Frison (BEL); Philippe Gilbert (BEL); Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (RSA); Andreas Kron (DEN); Brent van Moer (BEL); Florian Vermeersch (BEL); Tim Wellens (BEL)

Movistar (Spain): Imanol Erviti (SPA); Gorka Izagirre Insausti (SPA); Matteo Jorgenson USA); Enric Mas (SPA); Gregor Mühlberger (AUT); Nelson Oliveira (POR); Albert Torres Barcelo (SPA); Carlos Verona (SPA)

Quickstep-Alpha Vinyl (Belgium): Kasper Asgreen (DEN), Andrea Bagioli (ITA); Mattia Cattaneo (ITA); Mikkel Honoré (DEN); Fabio Jakobsen (NED); Michael Mørkøv (DEN); Florian Sénéchal (FRA); Yves Lampaert (BEL)

TotalEnergies (FRA): Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR); Maciej Bodnar (POL); Mathieu Burgaudeau (FRA); Pierre Latour (FRA); Daniel Oss (ITA); Peter Sagan (SVK); Anthony Turgis (FRA); Alexis Vuillermoz (FRA)

Trek–Segafredo (USA): Giulio Ciccone (ITA); Tony Gallopin (FRA); Alex Kirsch (LUX); Bauke Mollema (NED); Mads Pedersen (DEN); Quinn Simmons (USA); Toms Skuijns (LAT); Jasper Stuyven (BEL)

UAE Team Emirates (UAE): George Bennett (NZL); Mikkel Bjerg (DEN); Marc Hirschi, Vegard Stake Laengen (NOR); Rafal Majka (POL); Brandon McNulty (USA); Tadej Pogačar (SLO); Marc Soler (SPA)

British cyclists

There are seven British cyclists: Connor Swift (Arkèa-Samsic); Owain Doull (EF Education – Easypost); Tom Pidcock, Luke Rowe, Geraint Thomas, Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers); Chris Froome (Israel Permier Tech).

Australian Riders

There are nine Australian cyclists: Ben O’Connor of AG2R Citroën; Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious); Luke Durbridge, Michael Matthews, Nick Schultz (Bike Exchange); Chris Hamilton (DSM (Netherlands); Michael Storer (Groupama); Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal); Simon Clarke (Israel Premier-Tech);

North American cyclists

The Americans have seven riders: Joe Dombrowski (Astana Qazaqastan); Kevin Vermaerke (DSM – Netherlands); Neilson Powless (EF Education – Easypost); Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma); Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar); Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo); Brandon McNulty (UAE – Team Emirates)

Canadian cyclists

Canada has four riders: Antoine Duchesne (Groupama); Guillaume Boivin, Hugo Houle, Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation) 

For the full list of PCS rankings of every cyclist in the professional world, not just those competing in the Tour de France 2022 check here.

Winners and Losers in the Tour de France

Previous winners

2021 Tadej Pogačar
2020 Tadej Pogačar
2019 Egan Bernal
2018 Geraint Thomas
2017 Chris Froome
2016 Chris Froome
2015 Chris Froome
2014 Vincenzo Nibali
2013 Chris Froome
2012 Bradley Wiggins
2011 Cadel Evans
2010 Andy Schleck

Five riders have managed to win the Tour five times:
Jacques Anquetil (France) 1957, 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1964
Eddy Merckx (Belgium) 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1974
Bernard Hinault (France) 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1985
Miguel Induráin (Spain) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995
Chris Froome (GB)

Three riders have won three times:
Philippe Thys (Belgium) 1913, 1914, 1920
Louison Bobet (France), 1953, 1054, 1955
Greg Lemond (USA) 1986, 1989, 1990

The record number of wins ever was seven by Lance Armstrong of the United States (1999-2005). But after being found guilty of doping by the USADA in 2012, he was stripped of all of these titles.

Other disqualifications after the winner has been caught out:
In 1904 the winner, Maurice Garin, was stripped of his title after it was discovered that he had caught a train for part of the event
In 2006 Floyd Landis of the United States was found to have raised testosterone levels
In 2010 Alberto Contador was stripped of the win after investigations into his drug use.

And what about…

How do riders in the Tour de France pee? This seems to be a popular question which makes sense. A cyclist can just stop to pee, if possible making sure they are fairly far to the front.
The usual convention is when the leader (rider in the yellow jersey) decides where a pee spot will be, preferably in a remote part of the race. The TV cameras do not film them and riders are not allowed to take advantage of this to improve their position. Sounds very fair to me!

What the jerseys mean and prize money

A total of around 2.3 million Euros will be awarded overall, including €500,000 to the overall winner of each individual classification.

The Yellow Jersey (maillot jaune) is the overall winner of the race up to that point, awarded after each stage.
The Green Jersey is for the best sprinter. Points are awarded at the finish of each stage, and for an intermediate sprint in all normal stages.
The Red Polka Dot Jersey is for the best climber. Points are awarded at the summit of each hill and mountain and at altitude finishes.
The White Jersey is the best young rider (for riders who are no more than 25 years old in the year of the race).
The Red and White Stripe Jersey is for the most aggressive rider which is awarded at the end of each stage by cycling specialists.

Here’s the official website for the Tour de France 2022
Cycling News has excellent up-to-date information on the Tour de France 2021 (and is good on cycling generally). Procycling news is another good source.

Here’s the Le Tour Facebook link
Instagram link
Twitter link

Major events in August 2022 in France

More geographic information about France

More about the regions of France
More about the departments of France
More about the mountains of France