Tour de France 2022 route and stages – Schedule, key dates and predictions in battle for yellow jersey

It’s time for the big one. The race to which everyone in cycling will be glued for three weeks, but that even your mum will hear something about on the Radio 4 news bulletin that precedes Gardeners' Question Time. With the Grand Depart in Denmark fast approaching, you’ve got just enough time to prepare your answers to the questions that will inevitably come your way from the casual… Why is that man who’s seven minutes in front not going to win the race? Who’s that lovely sounding Irish chap? What do the riders do when they need to pee? Ad/> The circus comes to Copenhagen on July 1 and the gladiators will parade the fabled Avenue des Champs-Elysees some 23 days later.

Tour de France‘It’s awesome’ – Froome picked for 10th Tour de France18 MINUTES AGO Though it might be overstating things to say things are back to normal, this year’s course is at least a la Methode Traditionnelle: Time trial -> Low key but spicy first week -> Alps -> Pyrenees -> Second Time Trial -> Paris. Whether this formula will furnish us with “the best" racing of the season is in the eye of the beholder but even if you feign ambivalence towards the Tour, you must surely accept that this is the race that matters most. It will, inarguably, provide us with the best riders in the world, riding at their best.

They will arrive better prepared than they have for any other race. They will go deeper. They will push themselves — and each other — harder.

They will hurt more. They will take more risks. There will be blood.