TOUR 2022: PREVIEW STAGE 18 HAUTACAM

On Cycling-Classics.com you will find everythink about the Tour the France 2022, in this article you will find the preview stage 18 Hautacam – the first stage of the Pyrenean within the Tour 2022!

PREVIEW STAGE 18 HAUTACAM

The eighteenth stage of the Tour de France 2022 starts in the Catholic place of pilgrimage Lourdes. Millions of people come every year to the grotto in Lourdes, where after the apparition of the Virgin Mary some miraculous healings have taken place after drinking the spring water. Many people go there on foot, but today cyclists leave by bike.

There is a mountain stage of just over 140 kilometres on the programme. A short stage, just like the one to Peyragudes. The finish is on the Pyrenean climb of Hautacam. By car, you can drive from Lourdes (where Thor Hushovd won a Tour stage in 2011) to the top of the Hautacam in about half an hour, but the riders make a big, western loop.

Tour 2022: Preview stage 18 Hautacam – The Route

From the start point, the riders will first go west to Louvie-Juson, where the route will lead them south to Laruns. The first climb of the day awaits the riders there, after about sixty flat kilometres. And it’s not the least, namely the Col d’Aubisque. This climb is over seventeen kilometres long at an average of 7%. The peloton will not get any higher than the 1,703 metres at the top of the Aubisque this stage. The descent of this mountain pass, more than twenty kilometres long, is briefly interrupted by the two kilometre Col de Soulor.

The finale seems to start early, because about fifty kilometres before the finish, the steep Col de Spandelles (10.4 km at 8.1%) starts from Ferrières. This climb constantly goes up at more than 8%, except between kilometres 6-7 and 9-10. There the averages are 6.5% and 7.8% respectively. When the top is reached, it’s still more than thirty kilometres to the finish, of which almost twenty kilometres in descending line.

The final climb leads the riders to the 1,520 metres high Hautacam. This ski resort has been the finish of the Tour de France five times before, with Bjarne Riis’ victory in 1996 still fresh in the memory of many older cycling fans. With today’s knowledge, you look with a different feeling at the impressive solo that the Dane shook from his legs.

Preview stage 18 to Hautacam Tour 2022

And then we won’t even go into the winners of 2000 (Javier Otxoa won, but Lance Armstrong rode his competition to four minutes) and 2008 (Juan José Cobo got the victory after his teammate and stage winner Leonardo Piepoli was caught doping) on Hautacam. In short, a Tourcol with history. The last winner was Vincenzo Nibali in his successful year of 2014.

Preview stage 18 to Hautacam Tour 2022 - Lance Armstrong Hautacam 2000

What else can we say? The Hautacam is 13.6 kilometres long at 7.8%. At the steepest point, somewhere in the middle, the gradient reaches 13%. The eighth, ninth and eleventh kilometres of the climb are the steepest: here, the gradient is in the double digits for a long time. The last 2,5 kilometres or so, the gradient flattens out a bit with percentages around 6 to 7%.

Official start: 13:30
Official start: 13.40 hrs
Finish: between 17.25 and 17.55 hrs
Distance: 143.2 kilometres

Intermediate sprint Laruns: between 15.00 and 15.10
Passage Col d’Aubisque: between 15.40 and 15.55 hours
Passage Col de Spandelles: between 16.30 and 16.55 hours