Profile, climbs & map of the 12th stage (Thursday, 14th July: Briancon - Alpe d'Huez - 165.1 kilometres)
The 12th stage of the Tour de France 2022 in the live ticker
Neutral start: 13:05
Official start: 13:20
Finish: ~17:52-18:28
Rolf Aldag's assessment: Alpe d'Huez! Prestige victory on a public holiday
To mark the French bank holidays on 14 July, the organisers of the Tour de France after the tough stage of the previous day. Not only is this stage just as difficult as yesterday's, it also ends in Alpe d'Huez, the most prestigious finish of the 2022 Tour.
Even after a coup yesterday, no ambitious classification rider will miss the chance to ride for victory here. Geraint Thomas, for example, pulled it off four years ago in Alpe d'Huez, who, although already in the yellow jersey, even used the sprint to the finish from the group of favourites to distance his rivals. I don't think it's possible to escape from the teams of the promising classification riders and make a halfway successful escape on the mountain.
Battle for green on the mountain stage?
It's more about leaving a lasting impression on the overall standings. The stage is a total mountain spectacle, the ascent to the finish in Alpe d'Huez is likely to be as crazy as ever. Despite all the climbing, a closer look will be taken at the sprinters and the contenders for the green jersey.
On the one hand, the fast riders will have to fight hard again to stay within the time limit after yesterday's stage. Secondly, there is a very early sprint classification on the way to Alpe d'Huez. Those who have the confidence to clear it there and don't collapse afterwards can capitalise on important momentum.
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 12th stage of the Tour de France 2022 to Alpe d'Huez*
- ARD - Das Erste: 15:10 - 17:45
- Eurosport 1: 12:55 - 18:00
- 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
*Broadcast times subject to change; please note updates in teletext and on the Internet
**The Eurosport internet live stream is subject to a charge.
