Tour de France 2022

With foreign starts in Belgium (twice), Yorkshire, the Netherlands, and Germany in the past decade, the Grand Départ for the 2022 Tour de France will be held in the race's most far-flung destination yet as the peloton kicks off three weeks of racing with three days in Denmark.

The action will begin on July 1, 2022 with a time trial in the capital Copenhagen. Two  sprint stages will follow as the riders tackle the flat roads from Roskilde to Nyborg and from Vejle to Sønderborg.

After three days of racing, July 4 will see a travel day, the earliest rest day in the history of the race, and the first of three en route to Paris on July 24. A visit to the cobbles of northern France as well as summit finishes at La Planche des Belles Filles and Alpe d'Huez will feature along the route. 

News and features

Race Route

• Tour de France 2022 route revealed
• Tadej Pogacar: The 2022 Tour de France route has everything
• Mark Cavendish: Not as many chances for sprinters at the 2022 Tour de France
• Julian Alaphilippe 'inspired' by first week of 2022 Tour de France

Tour de France route

The 2022 Tour de France route will open July with a 13km time trial in Copenhagen and other features include a stage across the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix, a first mountain finish at La Planche des Belles Filles, a return to L'Alpe d'Huez, more summit finishes in the Pyrenees, and a final 40km time trial.

The 2022 Tour de France will start in Copenhagen after a one-year delay caused by a clash with the European Football Championships in the Danish capital. Following a 13km city-centre time trial on Friday, July 1, two flat stages follow, then a rare early rest day for on July 4. 

Racing returns on Tuesday with a stage on the northern French coast, with stage 5 including 19.4km of cobblestones from Paris-Roubaix fame. The route then heads into Belgium for a start in Binche on stage 6 and heads south via Luxembourg to a punchy finish in Longwy. Stage 7 brings summit finish at the Super Planche des Belles Filles. The weekend sees the Tour head further south on hilly terrain into Switzerland.

The second week will begin with three Alpine mountain stages, and stage 12 on Bastille Day takes the peloton to the 21 hairpins of L’Alpe d’Huez after a four-year absence. Then three stages suitable for the sprinters will lead to Carcassonne for a rest day on July 18.

The third and final week brings high mountains on stages 17 and 18, with back-to-back summit finishes at Peyragudes and then Hautacam. The villages of Lacapelle-Marival and Rocamadour will host the final 40km individual time trial July 23, and then riders will transfer to Paris on Sunday morning for the traditional finale around the French capital.

Tour de France history

Tadej Pogačar is the reigning champion, having won his second Tour de France title in a row in 2021. Back in 2020, the then-21-year-old became the race's second-youngest winner after Firmin Labot back in 1904.

Pogačar broke a Ineos/Sky stranglehold on the race, with the British team having won seven of the previous eight Tours de France with Egan Bernal, Geraint Thomas, Bradley Wiggins and four-time winner Chris Froome. Vincenzo Nibali, then riding for Astana, was the other man to break the British squad's dominance with a win in 2014.

The Tour wins record is currently held by four men, with Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Jacques Anquetil and Miguel Indurain all on five titles.

The last two years have seen a modern rarity with Peter Sagan getting beaten in the battle for the green jersey. He lost out to Sam Bennett after a race-long battle in 2020, while Mark Cavendish won along with four stages in 2021. However, Sagan still holds the all-time green jersey rankings with seven wins in nine participations. Erik Zabel's six jerseys lie second, ahead of Sean Kelly's four.

Pogačar is the reigning mountain classification champion, too. For the second year in a row in 2021 he won the yellow, polka dot and white jerseys. In 2020, he broke a three-year French stranglehold on the jersey after wins for Romain Bardet, Julian Alaphilippe and Warren Barguil.

Richard Virenque holds the record for polka dot jersey wins at seven, and it won't be beaten anytime soon as Pogačar and Rafał Majka are the only current riders to have won more than one king of the mountains title, with two.

Read on for a list of the riders with the most wins of the Tour de France, the most stage wins, as well as the major jerseys (active riders in bold).

Most Tour de France wins

• 5 – Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain
• 4 – Chris Froome
• 3 – Phiilippe Thys, Louison Bobet, Greg LeMond
• 2 – Lucien Petit-Breton, Firmin Lambot, Ottavio Bottecchia, Nicolas Frantz, André Leducq, Antonin Magne, Sylvère Maes, Gino Bartali, Fausto Coppi, Bernard Thévenet, Laurent Fignon, Alberto Contador, Tadej Pogačar
• 1 – Vincenzo Nibali, Geraint Thomas, Egan Bernal

Most Tour de France stage wins

• 34 – Eddy Merckx, Mark Cavendish
• 28 – Bernard Hinault
• 25 – André Leducq
• 22 – André Darrigade
• 20 – Nicolas Frantz
• 19 – François Faber
• 17 – Jean Alavoine
• 16 – Jacques Anquetiil, René Le Grevès, Charles Pélissiier
  ...
• 12 – Peter Sagan
• 11 – André Greipel
• 7 – Chris Froome
• 6 – Vincenzo Nibali

Most Tour de France green jersey wins

• 7 – Peter Sagan
• 6 – Erik Zabel
• 4 – Sean Kelly
• 3 – Jan Janssen, Eddy Merckx, Freddy Maertens, Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, Robbie McEwen
• 2 – Stan Ockers, Jean Graczyk, André Darrigade, Laurent Jalabert, Thor Hushovd, Mark Cavendish
• 1 – Michael Matthews, Sam Bennett

Most Tour de France polka dot jersey wins

• 7 – Richard Virenque
• 6 – Federico Bahamontes, Lucien Van Impe 
• 3 – Julio Jiménez
• 2 – Felicien Vervaecke, Gino Bartali, Fausto Coppi, Charly Gaul, Imerio Massignan, Eddy Merckx, Luis Herrera, Claudio Chiappucci, Laurent Jalabert, Michael Rasmussen, Rafał Majka, Tadej Pogačar
• 1 – Nairo Quintana, Chris Froome, Warren Barguil, Julian Alaphilippe, Romain Bardet