• The Tour de France will return to the North in 2022.

  • A day of rest and two stages are on the program of this passage in the region.

  • A stage on the Opal Coast and another on the cobblestones of the North could spice up the race during the first week.

Four years that the region has been waiting for this.

Since a now famous July 15, 2018, the day of the victory of the Blues in the final of the World Cup but also of the last stage of the Tour de France in the region, the Grande Boucle was no longer passed on the northern roads.

But 2022 will give pride of place to Nord and Pas-de-Calais with two stages that already look very promising on paper.

After the first three days of time trials and sprints in Denmark, riders, teams and caravan will all land in the North on Monday July 4, the day chosen to make the transfer by plane between the Viking country and France.

A day of rest that will not be a luxury before starting the serious things the next day.

Because the fourth stage of the Tour 2022 between Dunkirk and Calais, two cities that have not hosted the event for more than twenty years, could well be one of the most tricky of this edition.

Between the sea, the wind and the Boulonnais mountains, we will be in the configuration of a sort of classic for a day.

"The first great battle"

“It's a great introduction.

It could be a very invigorating race and the start of the big fight for the yellow jersey.

It will be very lively because the gaps will not normally be made in Denmark.

The first major battle of the Tour will really take place in the Boulonnais mountains, ”said Pascal Sergent, cycling historian and chairman of the Hauts-de-France committee at the French Cycling Federation.

Beyond the sporting aspect, the postcard aspect with the magnificent landscapes around the Cap Blanc Nez and Gros Nez will also be an opportunity to give another image of the region.

“People don't necessarily know this face of the region.

It gives another vision.

Because usually, when we think of the North and cycling, we think of cobblestones, ”recognizes Pascal Sergent.

Nearly 20 kilometers of cobblestones between Lille and Arenberg

Precisely, after the Opal Coast, cyclists will find the very next day what makes cycling the salt in the region: the cobbled sectors. With a departure from Lille and an arrival at the Wallers-Arenberg mining site (but without taking the famous but dangerous gap), we are back to the classic even if the riders of the Tour have not borrowed the cobbles since 2014. If we do. will not be in a Paris-Roubaix where there are 55 kilometers of cobblestones, cyclists will still have to cope with 19.4 km spread over 11 sectors, five of which have never been used by either the Tour or Paris -Roubaix.

Something to delight classic specialists like the Danish Kasper Asgreen.

" Pavers ?

I love them.

It's going to be fun (smile).

I really like the classics with cobblestones, so having them on the Tour de France is great ”, rejoiced the outgoing winner of the Tour of Flanders.

Because this fifth stage of the Tour could well look like a giant puzzle, especially if it is raining.

Alaphilippe thinks it will spice up the Tour

“Everything will depend on the weather conditions, but 19 kilometers of cobblestones is no small feat.

We will probably not win the Tour on that but we can lose it in a fall or a puncture.

Without forgetting the number of runners on the Tour who are not used to cobblestones such as climbers for example ”, assures this cycling historian.

In order to prepare as well as possible for this particular stage, it is not impossible that certain favorites of the Tour will come to test themselves a little during the next Paris-Roubaix. 

"It will spice up the Tour", moreover rejoiced this Thursday Julian Alaphilippe, a double world champion whose puncher qualities seem perfectly suited to the stages of the North.

Roll on July!

Sport

Tour de France 2022: Sprinters not spoiled, July 14 in Alpe d'Huez and a telegenic stopwatch in Rocamadour… Relive the announcement of the route live…

Sport

Tour de France: "It's dangerous but falls are part of the job," says Ignatas Konovalovas

  • Paris-roubaix

  • Dunkirk

  • Calais

  • Cycling

  • Sport

  • Tour de France

  • Lille

  • Cycling