Tour de France 2022 stage 19 preview - Sprinters take aim at Cahors

Stage 19: Castelnau-Magnoac to Cahors

Date: July 22, 2022

Distance: 188.3km

Stage timing: 13:05 - 17:16 CEST

Stage type: Flat

The Tour de France visits Castelnau-Magnoac for the first time with the start of stage 19. After three punishing and spectacular days in the Pyrenees, this penultimate flat stage finishes in Cahors after 188.3 kilometres.

The stage profile is mostly flat, with some rolling hills between kilometres 67 and 100 and two fourth-category climbs in the last 60km. The climb through the medieval town of Lauzerte - Category 4 Côte de la cité médiévale de Lauzerte - is a technical 2.6km with a gradient average of 6% on narrow streets, but neither this nor the Côte de Saint-Daunès, 17km later, should trouble the sprinters.

Instead, it will be the previous stages' exertions that play a role in whether the break of the day makes it to the line or not: If the sprinters and their teams suffered in the Pyrénées, they may not have the strength or willpower to control the break. In a Tour where the sprint opportunities are few and far between, however, it is likely that the sprinters' teams will do everything they can to bring about a mass sprint.

The final kilometre in the medieval wine town of Cahors will follow the Lot River with a slight uphill to the  line. Among the pure sprinters, look for Fabio Jakobsen (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) and Dylan Groenewegen (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) to vie for a second stage win at this Tour, or Australia’s Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) to nab his first. 

Other riders with a solid kick who want to add to their hardware collection are Jasper Philippsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange-Jayco), and Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) while Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies) is hungry for his first victory before the close of the Grand Tour.