Profile, final climb & map of stage 14 (Saturday, 16 July: Saint-Etienne - Mende - 192.5 kilometres)
Re-Live: This is how the 14th stage of the 2022 Tour de France went
Neutral start: 12:15
Official start: 12:30
Finish: ~17:07-17:37
Rolf Aldag's assessment: The group will come through
This stage of the Tour de France along the nature reserves in the beautiful Massif Central cannot be controlled. A wild attack is to be expected from the very first metre, as there are numerous hills over the 193 kilometres. I make up my mind: a breakaway group will establish itself here and successfully make it to the finish on the airfield above Mende.
The finale is of course familiar to fans of the Tour; French cycling hero Laurent Jalabert is not only from the area, but also won the stage in 1995 in the green jersey: after the finish with a gradient of more than ten per cent over just over three kilometres. There will be very strong riders with puncheur qualities in the escape group today - the profile supports a corresponding selection.
This stage, towards the end of the second week of the Tour de France, is not for tokenism. Rather, it offers racers like Max Schachmann, Bauke Mollema or Magnus Cort the opportunity to take one of the few possible stage wins for men of their calibre. Even riders of the calibre of Vincenzo Nibali who have been left behind are looking for their chance on such days. Those who make this effort must feel confident that they can leave their rivals behind on the ramp to the finish and in the sprint.
As a professional cyclist, our expert Rolf Aldag rode the Tour de France ten times up to 2004; as manager and sporting director, he has led various top teams through France and this year, for the first time, he will be in charge of the German team Bora-Hansgrohe as sporting director at the Tour de France. There are few people who can tell so vividly what can happen on the stages of a grand tour and within the peloton.
What weighting does the stage have for the individual rankings?
For TOUR the 53-year-old sports manager has once again carefully studied the elevation profiles and route tables for this year's Tour de France. In his predictions, he names the teams and riders he sees at the front on each day, assesses the difficulties of the routes and says where he expects attacks and from whom. Will there be a bunch sprint? Will a breakaway group make it to the finish?
Aldag also assesses for TOUR what role each stage plays for the classification jerseys (see above): The more coloured jerseys our expert assigns to a stage, the greater its significance for the respective classification. The yellow jersey symbolises the weight of the respective stage in the overall classification, the green jersey stands for the importance of the best sprinter in the points classification and the red dotted jersey for the mountain classification, i.e. for the best climber.
TV broadcast & live stream of the 14th stage of the Tour de France 2022*
- ARD - Das Erste: 14:35 - 17:45
- Eurosport 1: 12:00 - 17:30
- More live pictures on ARD One, Sportschau.de and Eurosportplayer.com**
- You can also find all the important information here in our live ticker
The preview with Rolf Aldag of the stages of the 2022 Tour de France
This is how the stages of the 2022 Tour de France have gone so far
- The race report for stage 1
- The race report for stage 2
- The race report for stage 3
- The race report for stage 4
- The race report for stage 5
- The most spectacular pictures of stage 5
- The race report for stage 6
- The race report for stage 7
- The race report for stage 8
- The race report for stage 9
- The race report for stage 10
- The race report for the 11th stage
- The race report for the 12th stage
- The race report for the 13th stage
*Broadcast times subject to change; please note updates in teletext and on the Internet
**The Eurosport internet live stream is subject to a charge.
