Stage 15 of the Tour de France 2022 starts in Rodez and finishes in Carcassonne.
Today’s stage has enough rolls to give the breakaway hope but not enough to impede the chase of the sprinters’ teams. Who will prevail?
When is stage 15 of the Tour de France taking place?
The Tour de France stage 15 takes place on Sunday, July 17 starting at 12:15 BST with an anticipated finish time of 16:51 BST.
How long is stage 15 of the Tour de France?
The Tour de France stage 15 will be 202.5 km long.
Tour de France stage 15: expected timings
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Route
Distance to go
Anticipated Time (BST)
Rodez
202.5km
12:15
Saint - Ferreol
55.5km
15:35
Carcassonne
0km
16:51
Tour de France stage 15 route
(Image credit: Tour de France)
Rather than sending the riders on a direct southerly route through the rugged Montagne Noire to reach Carcassonne, race director Thierry Gouvenou has opted for something much more straightforward. The riders should have the wind in their favour as they begin their approach to Carcassonne from the north-west. The finish is the same one as last year’s, when Mark Cavendish claimed his 34th stage win, tying with Eddy Merckx for the record.
This shouldn’t be as testing a challenge as last year’s stage into Carcassonne, where the wind, heat and small, twisting roads made for a very difficult finale. There is a chance of crosswinds in the second half of the stage, but this should boil down to a simple contest between the sprinters’ teams and the breakaway. The former will be under orders to prevent more than a handful of riders getting into the break, and that should enable them to complete a successful pursuit, resulting in a bunch finish below Carcassonne’s spectacular citadel.
Tour de France stage 15: riders to watch
Until Cavendish’s victory last year, Carcassonne had a tradition for favouring breakaway winners. Magnus Cort (2018) and Yaroslav Popovych (2005), the two previous victors, had both been part of small groups. However, there’s so much strength and depth to the line-up of sprinters this year that it’s hard to foresee the likes of Fabio Jakobsen, Dylan Groenewegen, Caleb Ewan and Jasper Philipsen allowing this opportunity to slip by.
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Peter Cossins has been writing about professional cycling since 1993, with his reporting appearing in numerous publications and websites including Cycling Weekly, Cycle Sport and Procycling - which he edited from 2006 to 2009. Peter is the author of several books on cycling - The Monuments, his history of cycling's five greatest one-day Classic races, was published in 2014, followed in 2015 by Alpe d’Huez, an appraisal of cycling’s greatest climb. Yellow Jersey - his celebration of the iconic Tour de France winner's jersey won the 2020 Telegraph Sports Book Awards Cycling Book of the Year Award.
