Tour de France 2022 stage 15 preview: Route map and profile from Rodez to Carcassonne today
It has been a torturous week for the sprinters at the Tour de France as they haul themselves over the Alpine mountains in search of another opportunity at a stage win.
While the more punchy Micheal Matthews was able to take victory on stage 13 in St Etienne yesterday, the likes of Fabio Jakobsen, Dylan Groenewegen, Caleb Ewan and Jasper Philipsen will have been focusing on this stage as a way of getting through those arduous days in and out of the saddle.
But now the sprinters teams have a day’s riding which will suit them once more. Race director Christian Prudhomme has said it could be a stage for the break, but you do not envisage the likes of Quick-Step and Bike-Exchange allowing this to end in anything other than a bunch sprint.
The issue they have? A man by the name of Wout van Aert. The Belgian, who has already won two stages of this year’s race, will be eyeing a third as he continues his dominance of the green jersey competition.
As long as the peloton controls the gap to the day’s break over the two categorised climbs – the category three Cote d’Ambiante (4.4km length, 4.6% gradient) and Cote des Cammazes (5.1km, 4.1%) – then we should be in for a blistering finish between the fast men of the peloton.
Stage 15 profile
Stage 15 map
Stage 15 start time
The stage is scheduled to start at around 12.05pm BST with the expected finish at around 4.40pm BST.
How to watch on TV and online today
Tour de France coverage can be found this year on ITV4, Eurosport, Discovery+ and GCN+ (Global Cycling Network).
Live racing each day will be shown on ITV4 before highlights typically at 7pm each day. ITV’s website lists timings here.
Eurosport and GCN+ will show every minute of every stage. More on Eurosport’s coverage here and the GCN+ coverage here.
It is also being shown on Eurosport’s Discovery+ streaming service, with broadcast info here.
General Classification after Stage 14
1 Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Jumbo-Visma 55hrs 31mins 1sec,
2 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates +2m 22s,
3 Geraint Thomas (Gbr) INEOS Grenadiers +2:43,
4 Romain Bardet (Fra) Team DSM +3:01,
5 Adam Yates (Gbr) INEOS Grenadiers +4:06,
6 Nairo Quintana (Col) Team Arkea-Samsic +4:15,
7 Louis Meintjes (Rsa) Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert +4:24,
8 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ at same time,
9 Tom Pidcock (Gbr) INEOS Grenadiers +8:49,
10 Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar Team +9:58
