Tour de France stage 16 preview

(Image credit: Getty)

published 18 July 2022

Stage 16 of the Tour de France 2022 starts in Carcassonne and finishes in Foix.

The Tour enters its endgame with the arrival of the Pyrenees but they’re mostly saved for the back half of this 179km test where we’ll discover whose legs bounced back best from the rest day

When is stage 16 of the Tour de France taking place?

The Tour de France stage 16 takes place on Tuesday, July 19 starting at 11:40 BST with an anticipated finish time of 16:11 BST.

How long is stage 16 of the Tour de France?

The Tour de France stage 16 will be 178.5 km long.

Tour de France stage 16: expected timings

Route	Distance to go	Anticipated Time (BST)
Carcassonne	178.5km	11:40
Saint - Ferreol	110.7km	13:23
Port de Lers	53.4km	14:56
Mur de Péguère	27.2km	15:41
Foix	0km	16:11

Tour de France stage 16 route

The climbs begin after 113km with the Port de Lers, which extends for 11.4km and averages 7%, but with sections fluctuating considerably either side of that in typical Pyrenean fashion. The riders will descend from this pass to Massat, then begin to climb steadily again on the road that eventually leads to the Col de Port. However, after half a dozen kilometres, a left turn will take them onto something wholly different in the shape of the Mur de Péguère. A touch more than 3km long, it averages 12% as it rises through dense forest to the Col de Péguère – the opening kilometre is the toughest at 14%. From the top, there’s a long and sometimes quite technical descent into the finish at Foix.

Useful Tour de France 2022 resources

Tour de France stage 16: what to expect

Unlike the 2019 stage won by Simon Yates that went up the Mur de Péguère and finished above Foix at Prat d’Albis and produced a captivating battle between the GC favourites, this stage with its finish in the valley is less challenging and should see the break go all the way to the finish. There’ll be a huge and probably drawn-out fight to get into it. Once it forms, the best climbers will have a significant advantage, especially on the Mur.

Tour de France stage 16: riders to watch

With the winner almost certain to come from the break, keep your eye out for a good climber who is also a fast and maybe slightly madcap descender. Matej Mohorič (Team Bahrain Victorious) and his dropper post perhaps?

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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.